Shaper of Beacon
by NemesisVengence
Summary: A young huntsman-in-training receives a recommendation to attend Beacon Academy, in the hopes of being able to keep his home safe when finished. However, time will reveal that he has unknowingly put himself in the midst of far greater events than he could have considered...
1. Chapter 1 - Beginnings Part 1

Slowly stepping down a dimly path amongst the trees, the blue of the clear afternoon sky poking through the gaps between the dark red leaves of the trees surrounding me, with a quiet breeze blowing around me, gently shaking the leaves and shifting the small points of light about as I stood in the middle of a cleared path.

However, ahead of me was the one thing that broke the seemingly idyllic image around me: the monstrous jet-black bear monster with glowing red eyes in front of me: an ursa, currently staring me down. As it did so, a menacing growl issued forth from the creature. It was obvious that it wasn't just out enjoying the scenery.

"Well, this is certainly unfortunate." I find myself muttering, looking up at the monstrous creature's head as it began to rear up and take a swing at me, before I could feel the whoosh of air at my back due to myself bounding back from the claw swing, able to feel a literal shockwave from the power of that swing. "Hefty."

Landing, I looked across at the creature with a slight smile on my face. Maybe this will actually be more interesting than I thought.

Now drawing the weapon from my back, a black metal weapon that got slightly wider as it went up its length, now pointing the end of the weapon at the monstrous creature, the whir of a small mechanism expanding the thicker part of the weapon into a double-sided pickaxe, a glowing red spot at the end of the weapon. "Okay, I'm ready."

Once I had the weapon fully expanded, I issued several glowing red dust shots at the ursa, each one exploding in a burst of flame as it impacted the outside of its skin, though the impact of each shot only seemed to have minimal effect as it charged at me, now taking a wide swing toward my upper body before I was pushed into the air, directly over the swinging claw, the ground itself pushing up to help get me into the air, before I jumped with a backwards flip as the earthen rise broke away under the ursa's swing.

I managed to take several more shots as soon as I had lined up the creature again, which seemed to just shrug off the rounds, despite it now being alight, the burning ursa charging me with a fell roar.

Continuing to send rounds at it until all I could hear was a hollow click when I again attempted to fire, I narrowed my eyes slightly "Of course.", my thumb hitting a latch on the side of the handle, curved, double-sided magazine dropping from the handle of my weapon, before reloading a second magazine, bounding back in an effort to get myself a little more space to prepare to combat the large creature.

However, as I bounded back, I felt my movement suddenly accelerate, as I had been unable to evade the next strike from the burning ursa, being sent into a tree. Falling back to the ground before slowly getting back up, I took a moment before noticing my jacket was now on fire, having somehow gotten past my aura. "Oh, come on!" I commented aloud, raising my hand, the air around my hand seemed to distort, a swift downward wave of my hand releasing the built-up air, the pressure wave now swiftly putting out the flame "You brute! It's going to take all day to fix this mess!" I groaned in irritation.

As the ursa prepared for another charge, the fire seemed to only make it _more_ aggressive while it hurtled toward me, I got ready to try to put a stop to this nonsense. Stopping a moment and looking across at the creature, my aura spiking before a more physical spike seemed to just appear from the earth, stabbed into the creature's leg, my attempt to impale its center misjudging its motion forward.

Doesn't matter. No time to critique!

Taking the initiative, I pelted forward, firing several shots at the creature before bringing the flat front of my weapon forward to knock it back, several strikes impacting the creature from the front, shifting it back, and back, before jumping quickly into the air in time to avoid the next strike, finally bringing down one of the pointed ends of my weapon into the head of the ursa, a loud, resounding crack sounding from the impact before I pulled the trigger, negative inertia helping as I jumped from it back to the ground, the burning creature falling behind me and crashing now onto the ground, dissipating into a black mist, leaving only scorched grass under its remains.

Well, that, and several trees now on fire around it: too much for me to put it out the same way I did with my coat – that would only make this a forest fire...

However, as I took a moment to figure out the ideal method, several shots rang out from before me, the branches of the trees around me now being impacted by several shots, each burning branch now coated in icy spikes as the tress were now steaming rather than smoking. "You know, Jett..." my mentor, Stahl, spoke in a rough tone as he moved toward me "...you're getting to be a real handful, I can't leave you alone for a damned minute without you trying to burn the woods down." his voice betraying the light joke in his words as he made his way over, adjusting his dark grey travelling cloak as he walked, shouldering the long rifle he was carrying.

As I picked up my weapon, retracting the pickaxe end of the weapon back to its original state, I spoke irritably to my mentor "Not my fault, the ursa did it." shaking my head slightly as I now took a moment to look over my jacket, normally black, but slightly discoloured from the burn marks being a different shade. "Now I get to go to my first day not only late, but covered in burns." I commented as we had started walking again, resuming our weeks-long journey.

"Well, I'm sure they'll understand." Stahl, my weathered-looking mentor then said, in an effort to sound reassuring as we continued "After all, we have to go a long way to find an airship to Vale, about as long as it took for my recommendation to get there, I'd wager. But that's all right. You'll do fine."

As he said this, the two of us now crested a hill, able to see a small town at its base. In fact, the town was actually small enough that I was able to make out the form of an airship amidst the buildings: the craft that would actually be taking me to Vale. "See? What'd I tell you? Next stop, Beacon. You'll be there before you know it."

Sighing a bit to myself, I couldn't help but comment "Yeah, only a _few_ days behind. Was hoping to have _some_ time in Vale to prepare myself before the semester started, but can't help that now, can we?"

I turned to see my mentor shake his head at this "No, no we can't. Unless you're reconsidering? Hell, if you told me that a couple weeks ago, we could have gone on a tour, made a real vacation out of it."

"Now I know you're messing with me. You were the one who wanted me to go in the first place." I couldn't help but find myself commenting as we made our way into town, an impatient-looking pilot waiting for us "Well, it's about time! You guys are lucky I had extra cargo I could wait around here for, or you'd be waiting until tomorrow for a ride to Vale."

It's not like we could blame the guy for being pissed: after all, we were days behind schedule, and he wouldn't have any idea if we were still coming or not, even if he still made regular runs out here. "Are you ready to go then?" I then found myself asking. "Are you kidding? I've been ready to go for a couple hours now, so let's not waste any time." the annoyed pilot now walking with us toward the airship, a rather beat-up looking craft, but certainly still functional.

As I stepped onto the airship, still standing at the side door, suddenly, it felt like I'd taken a punch to the gut, as the realization that Stahl wasn't coming with me suddenly became real. At that point, I then called out "I'll make you proud, Stahl, I promise!" "Yeah, yeah." he responded, with a slight smirk, putting a hand up to his head and giving a two-fingered salute, before his expression became serious, nodding slightly to me as I made my way into the ship, sitting down and getting strapped in before it took off. As the craft took to the air, the town we were leaving becoming more and more of a dot in the distance.

"Beacon, here I come."

* * *

"What? What's going on?"

As my mind slowly began to return to awareness, the dim knowledge I was moving was aided by the steady hum of engines flowing to my ears, and the feel of a strange seat beneath me. Slowly opening my eyes, this fact was confirmed as my eyes began to take in the sight of small airship's interior: a narrow hallway contained inside the upper part of the vehicle, factory-standard dull grey interior broken up by stained wood trim: doubtless the pilot making his craft feel more homey, or something of the like.

Oh, right. The trip to Beacon.

Taking a moment to remember what was going on, I considered the situation from what I could see: the sun was visibly setting in the distance, or was it rising? Taking a moment to check the direction, I nodded slightly to myself "Definitely setting." I thought aloud before continuing to evaluate. The endless waves of mountain and forest that had been passing beneath me beginning to lull me to back to sleep now being broken by the sight of buildings below us: another town? No, this patch of buildings was easily bigger than the town they had come from, easily bigger than anything I'd ever seen, even from this height, it had to be our destination: Vale.

As if to confirm my realization, the craft began to drop from the sky, as I was easily able to feel the descent of the airship starting, headed down toward the city. Or, maybe it was that fortress-like building next to it.

Wait, what was that?

It definitely wasn't like any building I'd ever seen, and as we descended, I could tell the airship was headed more and more in its direction: that IS where we're going: Beacon.

The craft made its way downward, until eventually landing a fair distance from the building on an outer pad, proven as I felt a slight bounce as the craft made landfall with a metallic creak. "All right, kid..." the pilot spoke from the front through the PA system. "...end of the line. Good luck to you." nodding slightly to no one in particular, I took my bag and got off of the craft.

Just as it had when I first got aboard the airship, getting off of it just outside Beacon made it a great deal more real to me, and it felt as if someone had given me a physical shock. Knowing the airship was waiting to take off again, I quickly moved toward the edge of the pad, and almost ran right into someone who had been standing there, it was only then I realized now that someone had been waiting here to meet me.

"Oh, sorry!" I started, jumping back slightly from the grey-haired man, who looked at me silently while sipping his coffee, his free hand atop an odd-looking cane as he regarded me quietly. "I know I am late, sir, but I can-" however, I was then interrupted by the man, who held up one finger that was atop the cane, shaking his head slightly.

Once the airship took off again, and the droning of its engines became more and more distant while we stood there in silence, the man finally spoke in a calm, patient voice "Ah, that's better. You will find conversation carries better without the drone of aircraft engines immediately around us."

"Fair enough, sir." I couldn't help but respond with a nod.

After this, he resumed "As for the late hour, it is quite understandable, given the remoteness of where you came from. I am Professor Ozpin, and on behalf of myself and my staff, I welcome you to Beacon, Mister Stremm. Come with me." now directing me to follow him.

Now starting to walk with him and looking around at the rather impressive sight of the building, the low light of the sunset thrown upon the side of the building and casting a large shadow toward the right side of the courtyard, I was rather in awe at the sheer size of the building.

As far as I was concerned at present, every grimm on the _continent_ wouldn't be enough to take this place down.

"What do you think of my school?" he then asked me, once he noticed what I was doing.

"It seems..." I started, before pausing a moment to come up with the right word "…imposing, if I may say so, sir." I stated honestly, as I continued to follow him with my bag slung over my shoulder.

"I imagine so, if you are unused to such things." he then responded to me, as we continued. "Luckily, we have not yet covered any essential class material, so there will be no need to catch you up to our current state. There will be an initiation tomorrow, however, so you may wish to network in the time you have remaining for today. I believe the rest of your classmates are staying in the ballroom tonight."

As the two of us made our way toward the door to the ballroom, he then stopped me just before we went in, moving his cane between me and the door on a very slight angle. "There is only one more thing. In the short time we have walked together, I sense a great deal of apprehension from you, as if some part of you still does not believe you are here. You must free yourself of that, or things may end badly for you. Good night." At this, Ozpin abruptly turned on his heel and walked away from the door, having left me alone now, my only information currently was what was going on tomorrow. But this left me with no real idea of where to go from here.

Eventually tipping the door open and stepping into the ballroom, which had been lined with row upon row of sleeping bags, I found myself entering the room, immediately noticing the clash with the otherwise luxurious surroundings unused to having to house people.

As I started through the hall, I noticed that many of the people near the door had turned their heads to see who had intruded on their hall as they got ready for bed. Even then, many of their eyes lingered, doubtless wondering who I was now as I made my way over to the side of the hall most off on its own, though, with the number of people present, that was pretty much impossible.

Sitting down by an empty patch of wall and laying out a place for myself, before now slipping off to get changed into proper sleeping attire, my mind was still dwelling on what Ozpin had told me, though I hadn't a clue of how to go about handling it. Eventually, upon returning, something seemed, well, off: was it the air? No, it was probably that blue-haired girl that was sitting on my sleeping bag.

Wait, what?

"Oh, hiya!" the girl then called cheerfully as she saw me coming back to my sleeping bag.

"Ummm, what are you doing on my sleeping bag?" I found myself asking her, feeling as if I had to ask the obvious question.

"Oh, that." she started, seeming as if she was confused by my asking that question "Yeah, I was coming over to talk to ya, but then you wandered off, and I was just waiting for you to come back." the strangely perky girl then told me. "Oh, I'm Azure by the way, Azure Klejnot!" she then announced, immediately introducing herself.

"J-Jett Stremm." I managed to get out in response to her introduction.

"Oh? Well, nice to meet ya, 'J-jett'!" she said with a giggle, emphasizing the way I had answered her.

At this, I could feel my face fall slightly "It's just Jett, all right?" at this, she looked a little surprised, like I'd just shot her down or something. "Oh. It's nice to meet you too." I continued at that point.

"Hey, Azure! Come on back!"

A voice from across the room had called out to her. As she heard this, she nodded slightly, saying "Sounds like my friends want me back. Guess I'll see ya later!" now bounding to her feet and starting to sprint back across the room, before running headlong into a guy walking across the aisle. As the guy fell over, she jumped back up immediately "Sorry 'bout that!" she responded cheerily before resuming making her way back to her friends.

Groaning slightly to myself as I went over to the guy, who was still in the process of getting himself up "You all right, bud?" I asked him, now taking a moment to help him up, trying not to look at his bunny slippers, as, after all, it would be bad form to be laughing about something like that while helping someone up.

"Oh, y-yeah." the blonde responded, getting back up and dusting himself off a moment, "I'm fine! I'm fine!" he attempted to reassure me, before then introducing himself "I'm Jaune by the way, Jaune Arc."

"J-jett Stremm." I responded, barely stifling a yawn. Why was I still so tired after sleeping most of the trip here?

After introducing myself, I nodded slightly to him before saying "Sorry, b-but I'm a bit tired right now. Best be getting to bed."

"O-oh, right. Well, good night, Jett." he then stated, as I slowly wandered my way back to the sleeping bag, my previous rested energy having left me without reason, I found myself falling flat on my face and passing out as soon as I laid down.


	2. Chapter 2 - Beginnings Part 2

"Wake up."

"Come _on_."

Only dimly aware of the world around me as I started to come back into consciousness, part of me had started to mumble a response to the voices I could hear around me. However, after a moment or two, even before I had opened my eyes, I realized the indistinct voices I could hear weren't speaking to me due to lack of response. Slowly opening my eyes in confusion as to the source of these voices, it took me a moment to realize where exactly I was: that ballroom I'd fallen asleep in last night.

Slowly sitting up before standing, I still felt somewhat uneasy just being among this many people, as this hall currently held more people than my HOMETOWN. My eyes darting from side to side, part of me rather surprised to be around this many people close to my own age, most of the people back home either being children or considerably older than me. The question remained, uncomfortably clear as my alertness of mind returned: what now?

What was I supposed to do today? I had received precious few details on arrival of what was going to happen, but I still had no real idea of how that was actually supposed to happen. Where was I supposed to go now? Where was I supposed to store my equipment? Where was breakfast?

Why did the headmaster only give me a vague personal lesson instead of an actual idea of what to do? Who knows.

That last question made me acutely aware of how hungry I was at the moment, my stomach rumbling in protest, as the last food I had eaten had been on the airship on the way here, and that had just been a light snack.

As I pondered this, I picked up my bag and quickly walked over to a nearby bathroom to change out of my sleeping attire and into something more necessary for the day, I donned a light grey shirt, seemingly identical to the one I had worn on the way here, putting on my coat over it. Though, I still had to shake my head a little at the scorch marks that were still there: I was going to have to fix that at some point.

Taking a moment to change into my black pants I aptly called my 'work' pants, owing to the number of pockets I had to hold things that caught my interest here and there, I now stepped out of the room as I finished putting on my boots. "All right, step one down: dressed. Now, where's breakfast?"

After following a rather spastic, orange-haired girl who seemed to be bounding back and forth to either side of her friend, who seemed to be doing a very good job keeping his composure despite this, I ended up eating a quiet breakfast, trying to figure what I would be doing today. It was a rather strange meal, eaten in complete silence, almost feeling like I had a noise-blocking bubble around me, conversations from nearby merely fading into muffled noise. Maybe I wasn't quite awake yet.

Ozpin had mentioned some form of initiation today, but I neither knew when that was, or what the man had in mind. In my head, I had the mental image of some kind of training arena activity that would sort the students into teams based on their performance, whether they stacked all the skilled students into groups, or balanced out the top and bottom of the list, I wasn't sure, but I was certain that there would be some manner of logical selection leading to what would be the ideal team for each member.

With this idea in mind, I managed to find a locker, the number of which was scrawled onto the back of my copy of my registration papers by the rather irate professor who'd had to look it up for me, leading to my quick inputting of anything I wouldn't need on a combat operation. Since the idea of sorting based on combat performance was firmly pressed into my mind, I didn't need to worry about forming an ideal team composition in my own head. This was especially relieving as the only person I'd spoken to for any length of time was that 'Azure' girl, who I wasn't all that sure about, seeming to be the overly bubbly sort that would turn out to be an airhead.

" _Nonsense._ " I thought to myself upon considering this line of thought. " _If she got in here, then she has to have exceptional merit_." though 'exceptional merit' didn't have to mean above-average intelligence, considering some of the people I'd met who would fit that description.

Pondering this to myself, I almost didn't hear the PA as it announced for all new students to come out to the cliff.' The cliff'? That seems like a rather vague term for the school, considering it had quite a large cliff-line on one side of the campus. Then again, the cliff I had seen on my way in led to the sea. So where exactly _were_ we going?

Deciding to just follow the other students at this point to see where we were going, I started to follow behind a white-haired girl whom a moment ago had been flailing her arms about for a reason I hadn't noticed. However, she seemed to know where she was going, so I gave it no further thought for the moment.

It didn't take long before I was led to the cliff they must have been talking about: one that was overlooking the nearby forested area.

 _It was still quite vague for a test that required you to be there._

There were a number of strange-looking metal plates on the ground, looking rather out of place in the grassy cliff-line. Gathered there were the rest of the students I had been brought here with, all of whom now in proper combat attire rather than bedclothes, so I was able to get a better glimpse of how they might fight just from their gear.

However, there didn't seem to be any time to chat, as Professor Ozpin was standing in front of our group, his presence, looking as if ready to get started immediately, caused me to quickly find an open platform, standing on it with the dull thunk of rubber on metal, before I snuck a glance along the line, confirming it was what we were supposed to do before Professor Ozpin started to speak, in a tone that made it sound like he'd given this speech many a time before "Today, your abilities will be tested in the Emerald Forest."

Ah, that'll be it. I knew it would be some kind of test to assess where we were as combatants, but I'd expected a more controlled environment. This is better, really, as true learning is done in the field, but I was somewhat surprised they were getting at that so quickly.

"Each of you will be given teammates. Today." Came an additional statement from the rather irate professor who'd earlier had to tell me my locker assignment.

I'd known this already, though if they were telling us this right now, they would, in all likelihood, be telling us the criteria for selection. Then again, as Ozpin was now stressing the importance of choosing good teammates, it probably wasn't merely based on the results of our initial testing.

I may have shot myself in the foot by not being the social butterfly he seems to have expected me to be last night.

"The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." came his next statement. This fact hit me like a wave.

Seriously? They've got to be kidding! Such an arbitrary method?! For selecting your partner for your whole time here!? That's so ridiculous I don't even know where to start!

I wasn't the only one to get a shock from this, able to hear a high-pitched "What!?" from the other end of the line, though I couldn't quite see who'd said it. Either way, Ozpin then began to give us the actual description of the test without even taking notice of any complaint.

"At the end of the forest you will find an abandoned temple containing several relics. Each pair will select a relic and return to the top of the cliff..." it was a rather simple objective, despite his earlier stressing of the dangers of the path.

That wasn't exactly new to me, every day out with my mentor had practically been a brush with death. However, this was the first time I would be doing such with a peer, rather than a mentor, dread began to well up in my gut that I hadn't felt before, because I hadn't considered that at any point up until now: I might actually DIE here if I'm not careful.

Then again, that was exactly what he had been warning me about last night.

Which, again, makes arbitrary selection of the one you'll be trusting to have your back for four years all the more absurd!

However, there didn't seem to be any room for actual questions, even after he literally asked "Any questions?", before he simply ignored Jaune's attempt to inquire. I hadn't considered the idea of this 'landing strategy' myself, having never been launched from the top of a cliff before. Yes, I'd jumped from trees before, but that had always been without having to fall a few hundred feet before-hand.

However, I was left with no further time to think about it, as my platform then rapidly ejected me from the cliff, sending me up into the air high above the tree-line. As the wind pushed against me during my rapid flight, I got an idea quickly " _First, I have to see if this works._ " I thought to myself, engaging my semblance to pull in air from nearby like a vacuum, the air around me distorting slightly as it moved under me, sudden lack of air in front of me forming a very low pressure zone ahead, actually helping to push me forward faster.

 _Okay, going fast, and now..._

Releasing the pent-up air from below me, I found myself being pushed skyward slightly, reducing my downward momentum by quite a bit, though now I was once again falling, slightly slower than before as gravity worked to correct the error I had inflicted.

Well, that works.

Doing so again, I took notice that I moved slightly faster forward when I did this, shooting quickly through the trees, pelting like a rocket through the gaps in the branches and pushing again, downward and ahead this time, once I was mere feet from the ground, pushing myself into a flip before landing on my feet.

"Well, that was certainly something." I commented to myself, before I had to now take a moment to catch my breath, then continuing onwards.

"All right, landing solved. Now for part two." I commented to myself, now looking around the woods. "If I must have a partner, I'll need someone that won't hold me back, and that I won't get in the way of." however, as I barely knew anyone at the school, I had no real idea who that might be.

"Just as long as I don't run into that-" I started to think aloud, taking a glance to the left, I didn't notice anything straight ahead of me before running headlong into a figure currently standing by the tree in front of me.

However, it wasn't, as I expected from my luck, the blue-haired Azure, but rather, a Beowulf. As it turned to face me, growling angrily, I was now keenly aware of several bushes rustling nearby, several more stepping out of them, each of them growling angrily at me, the sound seeming to issue from every direction. "Oh, joy." I muttered. "All right then…" I found myself continuing with a gasp of exasperation while drawing my weapon and allowing it to expand into its combat form "…which of you is first?"

This rhetorical question was immediately answered as the one I ran into rushed toward me, only to be met by a quick swing of my pickaxe, lodging the pointed end into the creature long enough for me to shoot the creature, the momentum from the shot pushing me back and drawing the weapon out of the creature before it fell, before I jumped into the branch of a nearby tree, taking several pot-shots at the creatures before jumping to the next branch. I had to be careful right now: they still had the advantage of numbers for the moment.

Firing until my magazine ran empty, I continued moving along the branches, until on one jump, I continued until I found my path impeded by the sudden presence of a blue blur, physics then immediately rectified the situation by knocking both of us out of the air.

"Oww." I mutter, getting up quickly and rubbing a sore spot, before now checking to see who I ran into anyway, readying to swing my weapon into an attacking grimm, I saw -Azure?

"Oh, hey there Jett!" she commented cheerily, before turning her head slightly "Oh, looks like you made some friends, too." seeing the grimm continuing to pursue me. I was about to ask about 'too', before a crash from nearby told me all I needed to know "Oh, wonderful." I muttered. I didn't want to know just now what it was, and so I gestured for her to follow back on her original path "I suggest we continue."

However, before I had jumped back to continue, she was already gone down the path "I guess I didn't need to tell her that part." before moving to follow, glad, at least, that I didn't _always_ have to state the obvious. Taking myself back up to tree level, the two of us continued until reaching a small clearing, loud crashing behind us telling us whatever it was, it was still pursuing us, becoming closer with each new crash. Getting out of the trees and moving through this area, dotted with rocky outcrops and a large cliff-line to my immediate right, we headed toward the ruined building in the distance. I took this moment to reload my weapon, before turning back to face what was pursuing us. "All right, let's see what you brought along."

It took only a moment for it to make its presence known: a boarbatusk the size of a small house, followed by the remaining group of beowulfs that had followed me this far.

"That is one big pig." an unfamiliar male voice then started from nearby, turning my head to see two of the people that Azure had gone back to talk to after I had first met her: a white-haired guy who addressed the situation with a calm smirk, and a girl with light-red hair, bordering on pink, who had to be the tallest girl I had seen in my life, looking at the situation with growing concern.

"Hey, Diamond, Eunry, you guys found each other? Good! Could you do us a favour and help us fight our unwelcome guests?" Azure asked as nonchalantly as if asking to borrow someone's pencil before a test.

"Yeah, sure thing, Azure. Been looking to fight something all day, never ran into anything except Eunry." Diamond answered with the same level of calm, drawing a pair of asymmetric bladed weapons, quickly snapping the two together into a single weapon, loading it quickly and taking aim at the oncoming enemies.

"I personally didn't mind a quiet morning…" Eunry added, currently holding what looked like a staff her own height, ending in a large, smooth steel ball, before calmly kicking the base of it, flipping it over and catching the weapon, to allow the gun-end of the staff to point toward her new targets, gripping the handle that held the trigger to the weapon, allowing the ball to rest at her shoulder. "…but I suppose we can give them a go."

That would explain why the end was smooth, wouldn't want to rest your shoulder against a spike or anything like that.

Taking aim myself as Azure drew her own weapon, looking like a harpoon with a barrel running along its spine, "Let 'em have it!" she declared, the four of us opening fire on the approaching grimm, the hail of shots seeming only to glance off of the angry boarbatusk as it charged. It wasn't winding up to roll yet, but that wouldn't be far off if I remembered these things right. "Hit it again!" Azure called.

"No!" I interrupted, taking stock of the situation as the grimm continued to advance.

"What? Why not? You want to die?" she then asked, confused, clearly dumbfounded by my response.

"No, but our rounds aren't doing much right now to it, we need to hit the beowulfs at range before we focus on the boarbatusk!" I then instructed, proving my point by managing to pick off one of the approaching creatures with a well-placed and, quite honestly, lucky headshot from this range, causing it to drop dead shortly after.

"Sounds like a plan." Diamond affirmed, the group now opening fire on the remaining beowulfs while there was still some range between the two groups, quickly managing to decimate the smaller grimm before they reached the group.

However, that still left the problem of the boarbatusk, which had come to a close enough range that it began to spin up to charge at the group of us. "Don't move until the last possible moment." I suggested, though the group scattered immediately to give it less of an immediate target. However, as it seemed fixated on me at the moment for some reason, this was still the case, as it pelted directly toward me. Spotting my opportunity, a quick dive out of the way left it charging into a nearby cliff wall.

While it was stunned a moment, flat on the ground, I looked at the three of them. "Anyone got a plan?" I found myself asking the group of them in the moment or two we currently had to come up with something.

"Hit it really hard?" Azure suggested with a light smile, before adding "With something really big." seeing that I was taking a moment to try to figure out whether or not she was joking.

As the massive creature started to get up and turn around, Eunry then nodded slightly "Simple, but it would probably work, _if_ we could expose its underside. The upper armour was shrugging off our shots like nothing."

"What would we hit it with?" Diamond asked at this point. It was a fair question: there wasn't much of anything nearby to strike the creature with, and I knew nothing at the moment about any of their semblances, leaving me in a rather bad position to help with planning anything, especially as the creature was now facing us and getting ready to charge again.

"Diversion!" I could hear myself call out, getting ready to move to evade its charge again while it was spinning up.

"Better idea." Azure suddenly spoke from behind me, a strange-looking bubble hovering over her hand, before I saw her lob it into the path of the charging boarbatusk. With the ground in front of it quickly getting soaked, the spinning creature now found itself sliding onto its side and causing the length of the creature to now slide toward us, though rather slower than before, and out of control, making it rather easier to evade, as it was no longer TRYING to hit us.

Having another moment, I could practically feel the spark form as I got an idea. "I know what we can hit it with!" now pointing over the edge of a nearby cliff-line. "We need to flip it over!" I found myself calling to the others.

"Can do!" Diamond responded, moving over to the cliff edge as the creature got up, though it still had a straight line to him right now along the edge of the cliff: what was he doing?

While it had been originally turning to face me again, several repeated shot impacts from the side drew its attention, causing it to turn toward Diamond now, and, as it prepared to charge again, Azure then turned to me and called out "Whatever you're doing, get to it! You'll only have a second or two before it's in position!"

As much as I wanted to ask how that would even be possible, I decided for the moment to go with it, as she clearly knew more about her friend than I did. "Make another bubble of water! Bigger this time!" I instructed as I reloaded my weapon, the snowflake clear on the side of the magazine.

"On it!" she responded, forming a large bubble of water in midair near the cliff, before I began opening fire on it, rapid impacts of ice rounds beginning to quickly form a large, spiky block.

While this was happening, the creature rolled forward, Diamond's aura turning pure white just as the creature made contact, slamming into him at full force, it looked, however, as if it had run into a wall again, Diamond not moving an inch, a smirk etched onto his face "Batter up!" he called out.

As he said this, Eunry, having kept close to him, now charged the boarbatusk from the side, holding her mace-staff with the heavy end out, swinging her weapon into its exposed side, and sending it quickly off the edge of the cliff as I got to the ice block. The instant I set my hand to it, it began to quickly re-form its shape as if it were still water, ultimately forming a deadly point like a giant bullet.

As the creature hit the ground off the side of the cliff, the slightest push by my semblance to destabilize the rocky cliff was all I needed. The small section of cliff breaking off with a loud snap, I managed to get atop the sharpened block before it fell off of the cliff. I needed to be on it for this to work.

Falling with the block, I began drawing the air in front to me while I fell, just as I had when I was landing, the low pressure zone causing the block to fall even faster, now pelting downward toward my target at ludicrous speed.

Wind was whipping past, attempting to fill the gap I was leaving in the air as I continued to rocket toward my target, concentrating on the exposed black surface below me, barely able to see it despite its size at the moment, the wind and ice making sight difficult, but something told me I was on the right track, some confidence I didn't recognize telling me I was about to pull this off, and as the ground grew closer and closer, I carefully picked my time to jump.

Now.

This was when I pushed off, using the collected air pressure and giving the block one last spurt of acceleration as it ultimately slammed into the exposed underside of the creature, having landed on its back. An ice-bullet the size of a car piercing the creature immediately as I landed from a few feet in the air, turning to see the creature immobile, watching it a moment to confirm before turning to look up the cliff at the others, giving a thumbs-up from my extended arm "We got it!"

Managing to make my way back up the cliff, protruding boulders providing a workable route, I finally managed to catch my breath as we stopped a moment once we got to the temple. "Well, day one, right?" I asked with a slight laugh, Azure beaming at the three of us. It seemed the jovial mood wasn't just something I'd been feeling.

"That. Was. Awesome!" she shouted excitedly, as I half-expected her to jump up into the air in some manner of cheer.

Now moving to stand, I accepted the offered hand I saw came from Diamond, who then commented "That _was_ pretty good."

"Okay, okay, we're awesome. Now that that's established." Eunry then chimed into the conversation, her jovial tone betraying her attempt to appear composed. "How about we get what we came for?" giving a gesture to the structure.

"Good point: if we go back without a relic, won't have been much point to all that." Diamond agreed, now looking around the pedestals inside the temple, we noticed a veritable array of chess pieces, no pedestal without one.

"Looks like we were the first ones here." I observed, striding over giving a glance across them.

"The pieces are all arranged in pairs." Eunry added "It makes sense, considering I heard the teams are of four, not two."

"So the teams would be whoever brings back the same pieces?" Azure asked for confirmation, seeing Eunry nod before stepping along the line and picking up first one, then two of the black knights. Handing one to Diamond, she then gave me the other. "What?" she then asked me, looking over my expression of apparent surprise. "I thought it was obvious!"

"Not necessarily. They might have secretly numbered the pieces, and match up the opposite colours from each pair." I suggested. "Though, that would be far more trouble than I think it would be worth. I could still see them doing that, though."

"Yeah, I think we'll go with her idea." Diamond commented, as my suggestion sounded rather absurd.

"All right, I guess that'll work." I replied with a nod, before turning on my heel "Now come on, let's see if we can't back to the top of the cliff without running into anything else."

As we started away from the clearing, I thought aloud "I hope the other groups have an easier time at this."

Although, I could have sworn that bird above us had someone holding onto it. Must have just been seeing things.

After returning to the top of the cliff and turning in our relics, my new group and I found ourselves back at the academy, now listening to Professor Ozpin speak to the first-years assembled. As Eunry had expected, when he declared the first team, the pairs that had selected matching pieces were paired together, going down the list for a bit before finally getting to them, "Jett Stremm, Azure Klejnot, Diamond Sturm, and Eunry Tranquis, you retrieved the black knight pieces, from this day forward, you will be known as Team JADE, to be led by Jett Stremm."

I was actually taken somewhat aback at this, having been expecting the composed, grounded Diamond to have been put in charge. A glance at his expression was enough to tell me that he was partially thinking the same thing, though the sudden presence of Azure in front of me told me what was coming "Good job, buddy!" she chimed brightly, causing me to retract slightly, not used to that sort of attention still.

I guess this is my team now. Wonderful.


	3. Chapter 3 - Ignition Issues

_Here it was: the final defeat of the Grimm and the reclamation of Remnant, right here on this piece of paper._

 _Here, in this rough-hewn stone shack, was the answer, laid out on this simple little wood table for everyone around me to see – and it was I who had put it together: intricate in every detail, yet so smoothly connected that even the simplest mind could follow the plan._

 _"Do you think we can do it?" a male's voice asked from my right, sounding uncertain._

 _"Of course we can.", was my response. "We've been through a lot worse than this getting here." I said in an attempt to reassure him._

 _"Really? I can't believe we're finally going to do it! I mean, come on, it's never been done before! We'll be legends!" a female voice from my right chimed in excitedly._

 _"Yeah, I know." I answered, trying not to sound too proud of what I'd come up with, but unable to help looking down at it with pride._

 _Now holding my weapon, I stepped out of the shack we were in and onto the hard black granite of the hill we were currently standing upon, the distant, majestic view of the mountains concealing the reason we were currently here._

 _"Are you sure it's here?" the male voice from before asked me._

 _Before I could respond, a resounding crack that tore the earth before us in two could be heard, as if the very world before us was coming undone. As the mountain ahead of us blew apart, scattering new foothills onto the field before us, I nodded slightly "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's here."_

 _Looking back at the assembled weapons I had put together for just this occasion, I nodded, raising one hand, as a monstrous black grimm, the size of the very mountain that had come apart, made its presence known from under the partially-obscuring dust cloud with a roar that almost physically pushed me back. At this point, I did the only thing I could do._

 _Moved my hand forward, and as I did so, the entire sky behind me erupted in a sea of fire, hundreds, if not thousands of burning rockets pelting toward the source of the roar._

 _Watching as the rockets made impact, I was slightly disappointed as there was a row of explosions just short of where they should have landed._

 _Then another - closer this time._

 _Even as I tried to grasp the situation, the wall of fire closed in, and just as it swept over me._

I woke with a start, snapping into alertness as I sat up quickly, my eyes hastening to gain information on the room around me.

Just my team's bedroom.

Just another morning at Beacon.

"Huh? You all right, Jett?" a male voice called from my immediate left: the same voice as the dream.

Turning my head slightly, I saw Diamond, still in his bed: in all likelihood, he was delaying before having to get out of bed; something I'd noticed in the past few days. "Oh, I'm fine, Diamond. Thanks." I found myself responding between breaths, just now noticing my hard breathing.

Taking a moment to calm down, I shook my head a little "Must be the stress of adjusting, or something. Weird dreams." still in the part of waking up where the details of the dream were still clear, even able to see the connecting pieces right now. Even in a few minutes, I'll probably have lost the details.

Looking around the room, I started to ask "Are the others-" before spotting what seemed to be a blue-haired zombie shambling around the room "Oh, hey Azure." I spoke to her quietly, only getting a weak groan in response, as she staggered toward a coffee pot in the corner. At this point, she seemed to down an entire cup in one swig of the mug, slowly taking gulps until her energy seemed to take over and finishing it off.

"Morning, Jett!" she then chimed cheerfully, her 'sunshine' attitude having returned so quickly, it was as if that zombie I had seen before had never existed. "Ready for another day this lovely morning?" she then asked, wide smile on her face.

It was clear to me from the first day we started living here that there were two Azures, 'pre-coffee' Azure being the shambling mess that I saw before, and 'post-coffee' Azure being the hyperactive ray of sunshine I'd met when I got here. "I suppose so, Azure." I stated, still at the point where I found her transformation amusing, even if not surprising.

Getting out of bed, I stepped over to the coffee maker, siphoning some boiling water to make my tea, before turning to the last bed, unsurprised to see Eunry still there, fast asleep. Sighing to myself as I stepped over to the window, I checked my scroll to see if I could give her a few more minutes. "Nope. Oh, well." I found myself commenting to no one in particular, throwing aside the curtain and letting light stream onto Eunry's sleeping face.

As soon as the light touched her, Eunry started to fidget uncomfortably, tightening up into a ball in an attempt to shade her head, groaning slightly.

"Come on, Eunry, do we have to do this EVERY morning?" I found myself asking the still-mostly-asleep girl, getting only another low groan from her bed. Attempting to pull the blanket from her to no avail, I shook my head slightly "All right then."

Turning on my heel and stepping back toward the door of Team JADE's room, I found myself turning on my heel "Hey, Azure. Bucket me." I said loudly and clearly enough for the half-asleep girl to hear, at which point Eunry scrambled out of her blanket, standing up now tensely and looking across at me.

"No! I'm up, I'm up!" she contested, clearly not wanting to have to dry herself off this early. Again.

"I still can't believe you actually DID that." Diamond commented groggily, laughing a little at the memory. The first morning, when we were almost late, I threatened to empty a bucket of ice water on Eunry if she wouldn't get up, and she didn't, so I did.

"Hey, I can't afford to make empty threats so early in my leadership." I responded, shaking my head slightly. As he continued to laugh, I responded "Hey, was all fun for you, YOU didn't have someone coming after you with a mace-staff!"

"It wasn't his fault you poured a bucket of ice water on me!" Eunry replied, punching my arm on her way by, annoyed as she went into the bathroom to quickly get dressed and ready for the day. As the door closed behind her, I could hear her voice, muffled, say something about 'taking all day to dry off'.

"We still made it on time, didn't we!?" I called into the bathroom, as I laid out my own clothes. It had been a bit annoying deciding on the order in which we would all get changed in the bathroom, but it needed to be done, owing to the awkward prospect of changing in front of any of them. They may not mind each other's presence, but I've only known them a few days so far.

Ultimately, we had decided to put Eunry at the front of the change list, to ensure she was up in time for us to go to class, and so no one forgot to actually wake her up.

Going to sit back down on my bed now that I had a moment, I decided to think back on my dream a little more, trying to remember that oh-so-intricate design that had been in my dream, only to see a fuzzy blur in my mind's eye attempting to remember it.

Oh well, guess that's just how it goes.

Once the team had gotten dressed, and had gone to breakfast, I had already forgotten practically the entirety of my dream as I tried to call the memory to mind while eating quietly, the team eating at their own section of the table.

"Jett?" Diamond then asked me calmly as he tried to get my focus back into the here and now. "So, what are we doing today? We haven't really gotten much training in." his tone seeming to indicate concern.

Nodding along with this as my attention was pulled back to the current situation, I began to respond "Yeah, I know. Accursed academic schedule." as it had taken me some time to get used to the academic demands of being here at Beacon. The only real training we'd gotten was in Goodwitch's class and that had been one-on-one sparring sessions. "Sorry about that." I started, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. Turning to Azure, I asked "Say, Azure, would you be able to help me-"

However, that was as far as I got, as I then realized Azure had gotten up from our table and was currently having some manner of conversation with one of the other teams, namely the orange-haired girl she was currently laughing about something with.

"She apparently heard something interesting and just went over there." Eunry commented, shaking her head slightly "I think I'll go find out what." before standing up as well, moving over to the table where two other teams had already been talking.

"I guess we're moving over there." Diamond acceded, before standing and moving over to the other side of the table from their teammates. At this point, I didn't really have much choice but to go over there, unless I wanted to finish my breakfast by myself, so I went with Diamond.

Stepping over to the other table, I sat down across from Azure, now between Diamond and Yang, the blonde who had kicked my ass in our first sparring round. "Feeling any better today, buddy?" she asked me with a smirk as I sat down. Despite the absence of any kind of hostility in her teasing, it still felt off-putting to me "Y-yeah. I suppose." I felt myself answering before finishing my breakfast.

"Oh, come on now!" she continued cheerfully, jabbing me in the arm lightly "Gotta lighten up a little! Like her!" Yang exclaimed, then pointing at Azure, who was now beginning to arm-wrestle the orange-haired girl, I could swear her name was Nora, but I wasn't certain. As Nora brought her hand down with a crash, the plates and cups all jumped up into the air about an inch before clattering back down, Azure jumping up "I'll get you next time, Valkyrie!" she practically shouted, pointing at her.

"You're on, Klejnot! Any time, any place!" Nora spouted defiantly. Clearly these two had already formed some sort of good-natured rivalry in the short time they had been at this school.

At this point, my head was in one hand as I shook it, exasperated with the energy level this early in the day, pulling out my sketchbook after I'd finished breakfast, continuing to sketch idly from where I'd left off in yesterday's training class. "Ooo, doodling? What'cha drawin'?" Yang started, now looking over my shoulder at my drawing, an eyeballed technical schematic of a weapon I'd seen the day before, in fact, I think it may have been "Wait, you're drawing Ember Celica?" Yang's voice then asked over my shoulder. Given the fact she gave the weapon a name confirmed what I remembered: it was actually HER weapon I was drawing.

"Yeah." I started, sighing a bit as now I had to explain "You see, I have a habit of drawing things that catch my interest, and at this school, such things are never in short supply: your expandable arm-mounted rotary guns for example."

"You draw weapons?" another voice chimed in, before I was hit by a pressure wave, someone moving behind me in an instant, blowing the book dozens of pages over to another technical diagram of his own weapon. Turning my head now to see Ruby looking over my other shoulder, beaming at the book. "Oh, wow!" she started, turning the pages back to Ember Celica, and a second page showing Crescent Rose "You simulated my design just by looking at it?! Whoa!"

"That's unsettling." Blake then commented, as I was getting ready to answer Ruby, who by now had grabbed the book, and was staring at the drawing of Crescent Rose, looking it over as if trying to figure out how accurate it was.

"It's… It's... perfect!" Ruby practically exploded "How'd you do that?! How?!" she began to ask enthusiastically. I'd only spoken to the girl once or twice, but her energy level was never this high. Truthfully, having so many exuberant people around was downright exhausting, even this early in the day.

"Well, I have a photographic memory." I then had to tell her, able to remember every rise, every curve and every small detail I had observed of her weapon in operation. "So the details I observed, they stay. Right up here." pointing at my head to make the point more obvious "Of course, there's a limit to that, so I write it down while I still have the image in mind."

Seeming to catch my surprise at her reaction, though, Yang then explained "My sister, she's, well, really into weapons. You should have seen her just after she finished building it." a smirk across her face as Ruby rounded on her "Hey! I just- I- yeah, I really like this kind of thing." she'd started to snap before yielding immediately to the obvious fact.

Taking a moment to check the time, I looked up at the rest of the group before informing them "Sadly, we're out of time now. Let's get going." at this, Weiss sprung to her feet as the rest of us got up slowly.

"How did you let us just sit here this long!?" Weiss fumed at Ruby, the group now moving quickly from the cafeteria to their first classes of the day.

In the first part of the classes for the day, I was only half listening to Oobleck and Port while they gave their lectures, as I was formulating a training plan for Team JADE to undertake after classes were done for the day, considering possible combinations of our team's weapons and semblances to construct effective team attacks, working with a small notebook separate from my actual weapons notes.

"Come on, Jett! You've gotta try harder than that!" Diamond called to me, as I clambered to my own feet after being impacted by his assembled ranged weapon.

"You've gotta be kidding me." I responded, exasperated "I thought we were here to fight monsters, not each other!" I then commented, annoyed as I readied my weapon in its current sword configuration.

"Yeah, but it's not like everyone's nice like us!" Azure responded, forcing me to parry a rapidly oncoming harpoon spear, defending against an increasing flurry of blows until one eventually went through my guard and sent me back again. "You've gotta work on this, boss!"a rapid check of my scroll afterward told me my aura was nearly breached during the intensive sparring they decided I needed.

Seriously, why do they demand I check this thing to keep up in battle?! Wouldn't a HUD be necessary for that kind of tactical information?

"Besides, you want to be able to participate in the Vytal tournament, right? Then we'll need to be able to fight other teams, meaning YOU need to be able to fight others as well. Did your mentor never teach you sparring?" Eunry asked, as I barely managed to duck a horizontal swing of her mace-staff.

"No, Stahl was a big believer in 'sink or swim', so my combat instruction for the most part was against the creatures of grimm." I informed them as I felt myself starting to get ready to reshape the area to my own defence.

"That's a glaring hole in your combat education." Diamond stated bluntly, before pointing at me "Hey, we told you already, no semblance in our sparring match! You need to be able to actually do this." taking another shot at me and knocking me back as his comment caught me unprepared.

"Right, right. Sorry about that. Working on it, I use it a lot." I responded, before realizing the last hit had depleted my aura. "I guess that's all for now." I resigned with a nod before backing up. "One thing though…" I felt myself then start "...how'd you know I was going to use my semblance?" I then asked Diamond.

"Oh? Well, your eyes. They glow blue when you're using your semblance. Didn't you know that?" Diamond then responded, to which I simply shook my head.

"Either way, just watch us for now, Jett." Eunry started "We've been training together for a long time, so know each other's fighting well." before they started their three-way sparring match so that I might see a proper bout. I'd watched the matches before, but this seemed on a different level, each of them seeming to predict the other's actions, moving to attempt to circumvent defences I didn't even know would take place, striking somewhere that seemed outright random to me.

Was this what in meant for teammates to be truly 'in sync' with each other?

I felt somewhat like an outsider as I watched the three of them fighting in this way, none of them even attempting to fight at range, used to each other's styles to the point they seemed to have set up rules or something of the sort.

As we headed back to our room, darkness starting to cover the sky as the visibly-damaged moon became the main light source, Azure, in an attempt to sound reassuring, said "Don't worry, Jett, you'll get it. We just have a bit of a head-start." while patting me on the shoulder.

"I actually got an idea while you were fighting." I then told them "I think we should go into Vale on the weekend. A little real 'team time', so I can get to know you guys better outside of training and school, you know? I think it might help a bit." I finished, rubbing the back of my head as we walked.

Finally returning to the room, Diamond hopped onto his bed, nodding slightly "Sounds like a plan, I've been meaning to go into Vale anyway for a couple things. What do you guys think?" resulting in a nod from the other two. "But, before we get some sleep: homework." he grumbled, drawing out a book irritably.

"No need." I commented. "I'm done already. Questions were pretty much answered by what Port wrote on the board." laying down now as Diamond looked aghast at this, grabbing my notebook and reading through to see I'd already finished the assignment.

"Whoa! Guess there's more than one use for that photographic memory of yours." he responded, slinking off with the book over to his own bed, clearly intending to use my assignment to write his.

"You sure you should be cheating like that?" Eunry asked as she started into her book, as I started to slip out of consciousness, the world going black.


	4. Chapter 4 - Old Friends, New Problems

All right, we're here now.

Coming to the main city of Vale for the first time since arriving at Beacon, I couldn't help but look around at practically everything we passed.

"You know, Jett, you're going to look like a tourist from Mistral or something." Azure commented with a smirk as we continued down the street, where I was currently just watching the traffic lights run.

It felt rather different being out here with the rest of my team in Vale. For starters, we weren't in uniform, but our regular clothes, which wasn't really _that_ unusual. However, it _was_ the first time we had gone somewhere without a direct purpose, and that lack of direction had left me just checking out whatever I could around here.

"What? There was never any need for traffic control back home. I'm curious: does it run via a timer inside the controls, or is some kind of detector set up?" I then asked, watching the timing of the lights seemed fairly constant.

"I believe it's a timer." Eunry stated. She had been putting up with my curiosity in a rather good-natured manner, and I was rather grateful the group hadn't been tearing into me for my ignorance of the way this city worked. "Though some other lights I believe have sensors to detect vehicles.

"Interesting." I commented, continuing to look it over "Though I wonder how it would distinguish a car from a 'jaywalker', did I say that right?"

"Take a hop across the road and find out." Diamond responded. He didn't seem as willing to be supportive as the other two, clearly not enjoying our slow progress.

"I know I'm paying too much attention to small details like this – it's an occupational hazard. I just like knowing how things work, and now there are a lot more things to try to get a grasp on." I tried to explain, though knowing the why didn't really matter to someone more concerned with the what.

"I'm just wondering: did you actually have a plan of where to go? Because I have a couple of ideas if you didn't." Diamond then offered, looking as if he were hoping to actually get a couple things done today.

That would explain the impatience.

"What'd you have in mind, Diamond? I'm basically just wandering today, so anything's fine right now." I ceded to him, now wondering what he actually wanted to do.

"Well, as enjoyable as stopping every few feet to look at yet another feature of city life is, I was hoping to get to the dust shop before their entire stock is cleaned out. The rest of you may need to stock up too. At this rate, it may be on a timer." Diamond now told me, sounding a little antsy at this point.

"What do you mean 'before their stock is cleaned out'?" Azure asked, sounding confused. "Are prices that good?"

"No. Last time I checked, prices here are awful." Eunry informed us. "Though apparently there's a reason for it, I just don't know what."

"It's because of the string of dust robberies in the area lately." Diamond then told our group. "I looked into it, apparently a bunch of big shipments got intercepted by thieves recently, it's hit prices around here hard. They haven't caught anyone yet, but apparently it's quite a problem around here now. That's why I'd like to get there before anything else happens."

"Sounds like a plan. Is it far from here?" I then asked Diamond. Looking around, I couldn't see anything that might look like a dust shop from the outside.

"Not very. It's only a few blocks from here. Come on, I'll show you." Diamond then stated, seeming a little more satisfied now that we were going along with what he wanted to do.

"Have you two been to the city before as well?" I asked Azure and Eunry, who both nodded in response.

"I used to live here for a bit before the year started, so I know how to find the essentials. Azure's the one to ask about living around here. Diamond might claim to be the expert, but she lived here most of her life. She even went to a school around here to train to get into Beacon. Signal, right?" she told me, before her question to Azure.

"Oh, yeah, three years there before my application! Most of the students there try to get into Beacon, but it's pretty difficult." Azure commented. "Diamond and Azure went to the same school as well, but a little further from the city. Isn't that right, buddy?" she then asked ahead with a smirk. "What was it called again? Lampshade?" she teased a bit.

"Come on, Azure, you know it was 'Lantern'! I've told you that before!" Diamond retorted to her. I was surprised by how easily that seemed to get him.

"Wait, if you three went to different schools, how'd you meet? You said you've been training together a while." I asked curiously as we continued down the street.

"Well, that's pretty simple- left here, by the way." Azure started to reply, pointing at the turn we almost overshot, rounding the corner before continuing her explanation. "It was actually a sort of cross-school training program, almost like the Vytal tournament, but smaller in scale and more for the pre-training schools around Vale. It also meant we went back and forth a lot, like a league, actually." Azure seemed to have trouble getting the exact word she wanted to describe it.

"Where did you go to train, Jett? You had your instructor, but was there an actual school?" Diamond asked, sounding curious.

"Not exactly. See, it was hard enough just finding someone with the credentials to be able to train someone all the way out at home, so he taught me based on his own way of doing things. There wasn't any sort of curriculum, per se, it was mostly about surviving out there, you know?" I tried to explain, but it was difficult. He had me write down some things, but there wasn't really anywhere near the written requirement as there was here. Upon realizing something, I added "There was _one_ other student under Stahl, but he…" I hesitated a moment, not wanting to use the wrong term "…left. After a while, he was just gone." I then managed to tell them.

"But, like I was saying, not really any homework or reviews to do there, mostly just fighting and survival training." I informed them.

"Not that formal work matters that much, it seems, with that memory of yours, and all." Azure stated, nodding in agreement with her own statement.

"Well, yeah, but I just wish something had prepared me for all the writing we had to do here. It's cramping up my wrist." I complained.

"Yeah, just imagine how bad it would be if you had to do your work normally, eh?" Diamond retorted, punching me in the arm less lightly than I would have liked, clearly not enjoying where the conversation was going.

Eunry then coughed "Copysomemore." Before shaking her head "Sorry, bit of a cough today. Though I'm surprised you got into Beacon without actual formal study, Jett." She then continued.

"Oh, right. Apparently Stahl sent in a letter of recommendation with my application. I don't know what he said, but it was clearly enough for Ozpin that I got in. Just glad it worked out, so now I'm here with you guys." I informed them, before sighing a bit, "I just hope he's doing all right by himself at home. It's been a while since he's been without help, you know." I told the others now.

"Really? Wouldn't that be the case at home, too?" Azure then asked.

"Not really. I wasn't able to be of much help at home. I was out helping him too often to be of use there." I told them, before shrugging a bit.

Though before the conversation could continue, Diamond pointed to the store we were drawing closer to "That's the one. It's the only dust shop in the neighbourhood, so we're best off going here, whatever their stock."

As the group of us entered the store marked with 'From Dust till Dawn' on the front of the building, the first thing that struck me was the suspicious gaze of the old shopkeeper behind the counter, the second being the sheer scale of the store's dust supplies of varying types.

THIS was the store's supply with a shortage!? One of those cylinders was pretty much my hometown supply on its own!

"Hmm, not a bad supply, even with the problems lately. Good. We can restock still." Diamond commented, before the four of us partially fanned out into the store, each of us needing a different sort of supply for our weaponry.

All right, just have to remember what Stahl told me about supply shopping and I'll be fine. Never get more than you need, but never undersupply yourself. Enough to carry, plus an extra stockpile to draw from later.

A decent assortment of elemental dust gathered, I looked over the prices of what I had picked up so far, and my face fell.

Are you KIDDING ME?!

"That's basically a month's worth of dust money at home!" I complained to myself quietly, though Azure was to my right, so she probably heard as well.

"Well, they have to do what they have to do, right?" a voice that was definitely _not_ Azure's coming from my right. The blue hair that I had partially seen in my peripheral vision being revealed, as I turned, to be a multi-coloured sheen that seemed to go through every colour at once, depending on the angle at which one looked at it. The metallic details on his clothing also seemed to look familiar to me.

Wait a second, I know that colour, not to mention that voice.

"Wait a second…" I started, looking at the guy's face who had said this "…Chroma?"

A smile broke out across the guy's face as I said his name. "I was wondering how long it would take you, Jett! I've been standing by you for a good few minutes now while you've been scanning through these things. You've gotta work on that tunnel vision, buddy." Before the two of us basically darted forward into a hug for a couple of seconds, before pulling back.

Eunry, who apparently had been an aisle over, now spoke up "Oh, does he go to Beacon as well? I don't recall meeting him."

Turning, I shook my head at her "No, Eunry, he's a friend of mine from back home. Eunry, this is Chroma. Chroma, this is my friend and teammate, Eunry. It's been quite a while since I saw you last!" I then introduced her with an upbeat expression.

"Oh, is that right? Well, it's nice to meet you, Chroma." Eunry acknowledged politely. It seemed the commotion had also drawn Azure and Diamond as well, who now approached as well.

"Jett meeting someone from at home? That seems unlikely." Diamond commented, shaking his head slightly.

"Not as much as you might think, bud." Chroma stated, though not looking amused with Diamond. "I came from the same hometown as he did. Well, what might as well count as it, since the houses are so far apart each property could be its own town. I left a couple years ago, though. It was more surprising for me to run into someone I knew from back home. Even enough to put up with Jett's tunnel-vision making him ignore me." He commented, now smirking a bit with a jab at me.

"Hey, if you want to do something right, gotta put in the focus, right?" I asked him, feeling as if it had only been yesterday I'd last seen him, rather than the gap of years. He didn't even really _look_ different.

"Yeah, but not at the expense of situational awareness. That's why you got knocked into a tree by that Beowulf." Chroma teased with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. I wasn't the one that ended up with that hive of rapier wasps on his head, now, was I? How long was it before those lumps went away?" I retorted to his great frustration.

"Hey!" Chroma responded, turning slightly to reveal a red mark on his neck. "That's STILL there!" he exclaimed. This only caused me to laugh aloud at the fact, the others laughing a little, as the story was confirmed for them.

However, we were interrupted by a noise from the old man at the counter, as we were still carrying on in the middle of his shop and blocking the aisle.

"Oh, right. We're making trouble here." I commented, putting back one of the more expensive bottles I saw.

"Yeah, let's get our stuff and go find somewhere to catch up." Chroma then suggested, as it seemed the rest of the team were done their shopping as well.

"Sounds like a plan." Diamond concluded, before the rest of us followed, taking care of our purchases for the day. Once we were outside the store, Diamond commented "Always feel fleeced lately, coming out of there.", while we started to walk away from the store.

"Well, you know, with the hits lately, they can't keep supply up with the city's demand, so they have to raise their prices." Chroma stated.

"Yeah, that sucks. What kind of scumbags are they, trying to strangle out a market in an entire city?" I responded in irritation.

"Scumbags trying to make a profit, I suppose. It makes sense from a money standpoint. You pile it up somewhere while the supply dwindles and then sell it at the increased price point. A lot of profit to be had if you're willing to be the bad guy." Chroma then told me.

"You seem to have put a fair bit of thought into it." Eunry observed.

"Well, you see, I'm trying to figure out how to find the guys behind it, as anyone with a sense of justice would. In order to that, though, you have to think 'what would a scumbag do?' in order to actually find them out." Chroma explained.

"So, what, are you some kind of crime fighter?" Diamond asked, sounding confused.

"No, I'm a huntsman. Keeping people safe from both monsters and scum is part of the job description, last time I checked." Chroma then stated simply.

"Hey, Azure, anywhere we can get some food? I think Diamond might be getting a bit, um- 'hangry', was it?" I asked her quietly.

"Yeah, it was that. One block down, around the corner." Azure then pointed to the other side of the road around the row of buildings as she quietly answered me.

"Thanks." I mumbled, before suggesting "Maybe we should stop for some lunch."

This seemed to have the reaction I hoped for, as we were soon headed toward the place Azure had pointed me to, which turned out to be a sidewalk café that also served food. Spending close to an hour there, we spent the entire time carrying on and telling stories back and forth about life back home, met by equally surprising stories from the rest of my team about what they did earlier in life.

"…so then Eunry asks me, 'what's the lever for, Diamond?', and at this point, I wasn't thinking it was actually going to work, when lo and behold, I pull the lever, and I swear, she flew further than any of us did during the initiation!" Diamond finished regaling.

"I still don't really get it. _Why_ exactly did you think to build a catapult out in the woods?" I asked, confused.

"We were gonna fight grimm with it!" Azure told me, apparently she had been in on it at this point as well.

"But then why would have me stand in the bucket!?" Eunry countered, seeming to remember how much landing from it hurt.

"I wanted to see if you would fly or not, clearly!" Diamond retorted, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be siding with Eunry on this one. That's a bit dumb." Chroma commented.

"Not your call, new guy!" Diamond replied, in an attempt to shut him down.

"Hey, he's my friend!" I responded, now defending Chroma.

"Yeah, you're still new to our group, too! Whatever Ozpin says." he added.

"I knew it! You're still on about the 'team leader' thing!" I concluded.

"Oh, you know it! I'm after the title and whatever boring responsibilities that calls for!" he retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Is it always like this?" Chroma asked me quietly.

"Yeah, pretty much. You just get used to the noise after a while." I informed him, before looking back at the group. "All right, did anyone have any more suggestions for what we had to do today?"

"We could go looking for a few things to decorate the room." Eunry suggested.

"Are there any stores that sell weapon parts around here?" I asked curiously, deciding to voice my own suggestion.

"Wh- how did you get that out of 'decorations'!" Diamond asked, sounding incredulous.

"One can have more than one train of thought at a time." I told him.

"Before there's an accident at the train station." Chroma commented.

"Either way! I just wanted what I wanted to do known just in case it comes up!" I exclaimed, before Azure made some kind of gesture to the waitress that had been helping us.

"We've got enough time to go see both. Still have a lot of time in the day." Azure stated encouragingly.

"Then it's settled." I declared, before we paid for our meal and left to go further into the city.

"So, how much did you leave for a tip, boss?" Azure asked curiously.

"A tip? I wasn't aware we had to leave advice for the restaurant. I don't know enough about preparing marketable food to be able to help them." I told her honestly.

However, from what I said, you would have thought I'd just grown a second head from the expressions the others now gave me.

"You didn't leave a tip!?" Eunry now asked, surprised.

"What exactly was I supposed to advise them? To 'live long and prosper' or something!?" I replied, not really getting what they were talking about.

"Oh, that's right! We never really had restaurants at home, so Jett wouldn't have known about tipping." Chroma then realized by the time we were a block away.

"Oh? Okay then." Diamond then nodded along, before explaining "See, when someone is paid to serve you, be it food or drinks or whatever, it is typical to leave extra money on top of your bill to give directly to the staff, as a sort of 'thank you' for their service."

"So it's a bribe?" I asked, confused.

"No, it's more of a gift." Eunry informed me.

"Ah, I get it. So by not doing so, I'm appearing to be, what, ungrateful?" I then asked the group, to a general nod.

"Basically." Azure put it into words.

As our walk continued, we passed a great many people, before finally getting into a store that sold various manner of decorative ornaments. Chroma and I remained together for most of the trip through the store, as neither of us seemed to be that interested in the decorations the others were looking at.

"Come on, Jett, you've gotta help us pick these things out! It's the team's room, so the team leader needs to take part!" Azure insisted, which would lead to her pulling me back into the discussion over which of these glasswork vases would make for a good container for the flowers they agreed should go by the window.

"They all look the same to me." I admitted. "It doesn't really change what it does, the shape of it."

"Really?" Diamond asked with a smirk. "So, if we got a vase in the shape of a dick, you'd be fine with it? After all, the shape makes no difference, right?"

My hand was at my face before he'd even finished the question.

"Within reason, Diamond!" I retorted.

"You're just feeding him, bud. He wants a response from you." Chroma observed.

"Yeah, I know, but he's rather good at finding what'll set me off." I then told him, my forehead slightly red from where my hand had struck it.

"Still waiting on a vase pick." Eunry prodded.

"All right, fine, that one." I decided, pointing to a translucent vase. It looked rather plain, but such things didn't need to be excessive.

"There, was that so hard?" Diamond asked, though his slight smirk made it obvious his plan had worked.

"You want my input? How about we paint the vase later in our team colours, in the order of our beds in the room." I offered.

Azure looked as if someone had just turned on the light in her brain "That's awesome! We need more stuff like that! Actual team stuff! I know! We should make a flag!"

I regretted my input quickly, as Azure now dragged me off to find paint for the vase in the exact colours we would need.

After quite a while of searching, I was in the middle of arguing with her now "I'm telling you, that's the closest shade of red we're going to find on its own! That isn't one they're just going to carry!"

"Well, I don't think just blending random paints together will make it the exact colour for Eunry! We've gotta find the right one!" Azure retorted.

I now had a slightly larger red mark, as my hand had sild down my face "I told you, we just have to put a little white into the red container here and it'll be fine! Isn't that right, Eunry?" I asked, turning to Eunry for help in getting this argument to stop.

"It's okay, Azure. We can just make it back at the room." Eunry agreed, holding out her hands in a 'calm down' gesture.

"Ugh, fine! You guys give up too easily! We could have found it!" Azure chided, annoyed as we ended up getting white and red paint for her to make the exact shade.

"We still need material for a flag!" Azure then persisted, moving over to the next section and returning with a rather large piece of fabric.

"I'm fairly certain those are bed linens." I commented, shaking my head at this.

"That's because you lack imagination! It's pure white linen, which can be used for many things! Including painting our glorious flag!" she exclaimed, seeming proud of her discovery as she crossed her arms with the linen box over her shoulder and had a rather self-satisfied look on her face.

"It can, but it'll still look like a painted bedsheet when it's up." Chroma added.

"Not if we paint it well enough!" Diamond responded, in support for Azure's idea.

Groaning a little internally, I decided to simply go with it, as there was little chance we would find the material for making an actual flag without strenuous searching, and a very disappointed Azure. "Actually, if we cover it right, fold it and sew the edges together, it might just work." I then offered to placate the group.

"Fair enough. Though your pandering doesn't go unnoticed." Eunry commented with a slight smirk.

"What are you talking about? It's gonna be great, and now even Jett accepts that!" Azure exclaimed cheerfully, looking like a child who was just told they were getting their perfect toy.

"Come on, let's go before I come up with anymore 'great' ideas." I then decided, moving to the counter and buying what we had gotten so far.

Leaving that store and arriving at the weapons supply shop, I looked around, as it was my turn to be the kid in the candy store. Looking at each part as I approached it, I looked over every discernable detail, including moving whatever parts could be moved to observe operation.

After about an hour in the store, Azure asked "You've been looking at parts for forever, are you gonna buy any? Did you even need anything?" It seemed she was the sort who only picked up parts if something on her current weapon broke.

"No. I don't need anything. Just looking for inspiration." I told her, her face falling as she realized we weren't even here to pick up anything.

"He always does that." Chroma informed them. "He'll look over every part in the store if you'll let him, looking for a mechanical function he's never seen before, so he can apply it to his weapon if he needs to. After analyzing it, he shapes one himself. He's paranoid like that."

"The only parts I trust are the ones I put together myself!" I responded to him irritably. "Is that so wrong?"

"Well, no. But not all of us can just sculpt parts out of random chunks of steel and wood!" Chroma then retorted, shaking his head.

"Ah, semblance envy, then?" I asked with a smirk.

"Dream on! You may be able to use that more outside of battle, but you know mine is far better when things go down!" Chroma retaliated, continuing the sort of banter we were used to back home.

Going over to the register, I then paid for a can of parts lubricant, then walking out with the group, Diamond having some manner of bent pipe that he said was 'for the joint section', the spot his two blades joined when formed for range.

"I thought you didn't trust anything you didn't make?" Azure asked, sounding a bit confused.

"Well, spray cans are harder. Aerosol isn't just everywhere for the shaping you know. It's the same reason I still buy dust." I commented.

"Either way…" Chroma then started, once were a couple blocks from the store. "…this is the part where I get moving. It was awesome spending the day with you guys, but, you know. Some of us still have to work for a living!" he commented.

"Yeah, yeah. I know that'll be happening soon enough." I responded "You don't have to tell me about that."

"Well, I will tell you this, then: enjoy the time you've got there. I can tell you from personal experience that time spent in training with others is some of the best time you'll have as a huntsman, especially at a school like that." Chroma seemed to lecture us. "You guys mind if I visit sometime?" he then asked our group earnestly.

"Well, if my team's good with it, of course!" I offered. "Team?" I then asked, turning to the other three.

"Yeah, of course. Just don't get your hopes up too high, it can be a bit of a mess." Diamond accepted, chuckling a bit.

"Of course! Any friend of Jett's is a friend of ours!" Azure responded cheerfully.

"Yes, of course." Eunry responded simply, nodding along.

"Great! You kids have fun back at that school! Jett, you mind if I talk to you alone a minute?" Chroma then asked, before the others started to move along.

"I'll catch up!" I told them, before following Chroma a moment. "What'd you want to talk about?" I asked, confused. He seemed to like the others, and they seemed to like him, so why the secrecy?

"Well, just one thing I wanted to talk to you about. You know how crazy those dust prices are, right? Well, I've got a friend who helps me get some stuff cheap. He's helped me out more times than I can count, and I've done a few things to help him out in exchange. I'm pretty sure I can get him to help set you up with a dust supply as a favour to me." Chroma offered.

"Oh? So again, why the secrecy? Sounds like a straightforward deal." I asked, confused.

"Well, see, my friend isn't a fan of crowds, and likes to keep his meetings to as few people as possible. I was afraid we might spook him if we all go together to talk to him. Would you be able to be back in town in a couple days, alone?" Chroma then asked me, a serious expression on his face.

"I see. Sounds like I could at least hear you guys out." Now giving him my scroll number, I then told him "Just let me know when you've got the time, and I'll go with you."

"Thanks, bud. I'll let him know to expect us later on. Like I said, you make your time at Beacon count, or you might disappoint that crotchety old prick." Chroma then commented.

That was to be expected: Chroma didn't exactly leave Stahl's training on the best of terms.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You might want to take it easy with that kind of talk, though. They'll think you're an old man yourself." I responded, trying to contain the hostility in my tone from him openly referring to our mentor in such a way.

"Well, that hardly matters, now does it? Just wondering, what's the story with you and Azure? You guys going out or something?" he then asked with a smirk.

I could feel the heat rising in my face as I waved my hands in front of myself. "No! No! That's not it! I mean, that's not exactly the _worst_ suggestion I've heard today, but still, it's kind of weird to hear out loud, especially since we've only known each other a couple weeks." I admitted, rubbing the back of my head.

"Oh, so, can I try to make a move on her?" Chroma then asked, smirk forming into a grin.

"Damn it, Chroma. If you're that desperate to make an ass of yourself to another girl, then go ahead and try." I then responded, before stepping over and giving him a brief hug "It was nice seeing you again, bud."

"You too, man. If you're going to be here in Vale for a while, we may be able to hang out more often, then. I'm pretty much around here all the time myself." Chroma told me after we separated. "You might regret giving me permission though! My charm's come a long way since we were back home!" he told me with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah. Pretty sure you told me that just before you got slapped by that trader." I commented, before moving back toward my group. "Be seeing you."

Coming back, I saw them starting to walk again once I caught up. "What was all that about?" Azure asked curiously. "It seemed pretty involved."

"Oh, you know, just random banter between friends. Oh, if he starts trying to act friendlier with you, then just be careful. That's all I can say." I informed her.

"Oh? Seems like Azure has an admirer." Eunry teased, watching Azure casually wave it off, though with a red in her cheeks.

"Ah, I get things like that all the time! It comes with being both lovely and charming." She complimented herself.

"That's why they have to get to know you. If they knew you like I do, they'd probably run off screaming." Diamond inserted, earning him a deadly look from Azure.

"Hey, that only happened once!" Azure shouted at him, before she commented to me "Long story, not worth retelling."

"I disagree." Diamond chimed.

"Not. Worth. Retelling." She affirmed, seeming to clench her jaw in barely contained fury and embarrassment.

"Oh, all right then." I commented, though mentally noting to ask about that later.

* * *

A couple of nights later, I found myself quietly leaving the grounds at Beacon, and making my way back to Vale, where Chroma was waiting for me, gesturing for me to follow him. "Glad you're here, Jett. Was wondering if you'd be able to get away. Let's get going, he doesn't like to be kept waiting once he knows when to expect us."

Nodding along, I followed him down the road, almost all the way out of Vale proper, reaching a warehouse near the docks. "Is this place?" I asked, confused. "Seems a bit dodgy."

"Yeah, this is it. He likes to keep his work quiet. Again, not a fan of crowds, so he picks isolated places like this. Besides, he has a lot of stock to store." Chroma told me, as the two of us came up to a door, a man in a strange-looking mask and white and black uniform standing by the door.

"Oh, hey Chroma. New guy?" the man asked, seeming familiar with my friend. That was good, at least. It meant we were in the right place.

"Yeah. We're heading in to see the boss." Chroma replied formally.

"I know, he's waiting inside." The masked man replied.

"All right then, let's not keep him waiting." Chroma responded, before the two of us went into the building.

As we entered, the low light of the building revealed very little detail, save for the outlines of rack upon rack of crates sitting in the warehouse currently. The one or two for which details were visible showed the unmistakable snowflake emblem of the Schnee Dust Company.

Stepping past the first set of racks, the figure of a man standing by a table was visible, though he seemed to be facing the table, from the view of the back of his coat we got.

"You know, Chroma, I wish you'd use a little restraint in just telling people about me." A slightly high, but very proper voice then spoke from the darkness, before turning to face the two of us, a cane now visible in the man's hand, the light of a cigar poking out of the darkness.

"Either way, what can I do for you?"


	5. Chapter 5 - Enter the Phantom

Well, this wasn't where I expected to be.

Standing in a warehouse with a friend I hadn't seen in years, now talking to this strange man whose face I could only glimpse at by the light of his cigar. "Like I said, what can I do for you? I'm a busy man, so keep it brief."

"Well…" Chroma started from next to me, sounding rather calm given the situation. "…I told my friend we could set him up with some dust on the cheap from our shipments."

At this, the man almost seemed taken aback "Oh? Why would I want to do that? This stuff's valuable, and I'm not running a charity here!"

I knew it wouldn't be as simple as Chroma had made it sound.

"I know that, boss. I'm just certain we can make it worth the trouble." Chroma stated with no loss of certainty. Just who was this guy he was working for?

"Really? Because all I'm seeing in front of me is a couple of kids from the middle of nowhere. Correct me if I'm wrong. What could you possibly do that's worth my effort in getting you dust? After all, it's quite the premium goods right now."

"Then let me stop you right there. Show him your semblance, Phantom." Chroma then stated, looking at me.

Apparently I was 'Phantom' now? What is going on?

But since it seemed a reasonable request, I stepped over to a nearby empty crate, and reshaped the wood until I was holding a guitar. Bonus points for me being able to form a couple strings from the nails.

"So you turn things into other things? What good does that do me?" the man scoffed, plainly getting tired of the discussion.

"No, Phantom. The other part. The wall over there. You were the one that told me about it." Chroma stated, sounding exasperated.

"Fine." I responded. I was confused, but I guess I should play along with whatever this was until I figured it out. Stepping toward the wall, I placed a hand to it.

"What, is he gonna smash it down? I've got plenty of guys that can-" the man started to retort to the idea.

"Wait for it." Chroma told him simply.

Pressing my hand into the steel wall of the warehouse, it seemed to vanish from in front of me, the metal retreating into the rest of the wall until there was a hole big enough to drive a truck through.

"Hey, we can't leave the man's warehouse a mess!" Chroma commented, clearly having rehearsed what he, at least, was going to say. "Fix it!"

"Like I said, I've got plenty of-"

However, the man's start of a response was cut short as I pressed my hand to the intact part of the wall, the broken moonlight entering the warehouse quickly fading to nothing as the wall seemed to re-compose itself.

"Ohohohoho! I stand corrected!" the man now declared with a laugh, applauding the show. "I can DEFINITELY think of a few uses for that kind of thing!"

Now, when I went back to the two of them, I expected to hear what he wanted us to do, before he simply slid a case over to the two us. "I believe that this is what you had in mind, right?" he asked, the two of us opening the case to reveal a veritable treasure trove of usable dust, in both crystal and powdered form.

"Whoa, that must be-" I started, before the man cut me off.

"Tututututut! I won't hear of it! Consider this a good-faith payment!" he then told the two of us, now stepping out of the shadows and smiling across at the two us, the red-headed man then finishing "I believe we'll be doing _a lot_ of business together!" clapping me on the arm before pushing the now-closed case into my hands.

"B-but I, I mean- Well, thank you very much, I guess!" I managed to finally get out after stammering a bit. It was a small fortune worth of dust he just gave me, enough to run any sort of equipment project for quite some time.

"Don't worry about it. I've got loads of the stuff. You guys just go home and enjoy your gift, I'll get back to Prism when we have a job that needs doing, all right?" he continued, almost sickeningly friendly.

"Well, all right. We'll see you later, Big Red." Chroma then finished, the two of us now leaving the building, a brief nod exchanged with the man at the door before we went back out into Vale.

Once we were well out of earshot of the warehouse, I then turned to Chroma "What the hell was that all about!?" I demanded angrily. "The dodgy atmosphere was one thing, but why does everyone have codenames? Even me! Also, why is he just handing us small fortunes worth of dust!? Who is that guy!?"

"Calm down, Jett! You're gonna let everyone in the city know how much stuff we just got!" Chroma whispered angrily. "I didn't want to tell you beforehand, but he doesn't like using actual names. He's paranoid like that. Also, that was what we came for, isn't it? You shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, man."

"Something tells me I should hear about the 'jobs' he'll want us to do, considering the 'good-faith payment' we got." I told him bluntly.

"Yeah, fair enough. Come on." Chroma ceded, now leading toward an alley a fair distance from the warehouse. "All right, Jett, I'll tell you what's what here: the guy I work for, he's into practically every business he can get into, so he's completely loaded. He doesn't really see that much as a lot, when he can get someone who can help him so much."

"You mean me?" I asked suspiciously, not liking where this line of thought was taking me.

"Yeah. You never thought just how much you could do with your semblance? You're literally unbound by basic physics! You can walk through walls, make weapons out of random pieces of junk in an instant, not to mention catapult yourself into the air and come damn close to flying! Hell, you turned aside a fireball with your hand before! Do you really think there's no one who'd pay for those kind of services?" Chroma asked me, expression deadly serious.

"Chroma… what did you just get me into?" I asked, probably matching his expression at the moment.

"What, that? Nothing! He'll just want you to make holes in walls for his guys to go through, make their work easier for them. Nothing that complex!" Chroma then told me, sounding rather casual about taking on these sorts of dodgy-sounding jobs. "Nothing dangerous or wrong either, you have my word on that!"

"Oh?" I managed to get out "Well, I guess we can do one or two little jobs for your friend there. If we're not doing anything wrong." I then finally ceded. I knew that guy was shifty, but I could trust Chroma with my life, we'd been friends for far too long for me to doubt him.

"Well, like he said, let's go home. You should get back to Beacon before they notice you're taking too long, all right? I'll let you know when the time comes for what he wants us to do, all right?" Chroma then finished, patting me on the shoulder.

"All right. I'm trusting you on this one. I'll see you later..." I agreed, headed back to Beacon once the two of us parted, storing the case in my locker, but not before checking the contents were secure.

Lo and behold, there were several crystals and vials missing: Chroma taking his cut, most likely. "I don't like it, but there's nothing to be done right now. I really hope this doesn't end badly."

Returning to the team's bedroom, I snuck over to the bed, not noticing if there were any eyes watching me as I flopped over and fell asleep by the time I got back.

* * *

The next week passed by in a relatively uneventful manner: school, training, cross-team banter, repeat, with the occasional gap for me to attempt to figure out what exactly Eunry's semblance was. Not once had I ever seen her use it. The others made reference to it every so often, meaning they knew what it was, but I'd never actually seen her use it in battle for some reason.

What was it?

At the end of the current week, I got a message from Chroma, which simply said 'Tonight. Same place.'

That's not shifty at all.

"What's that about?" Jaune's voice asked, apparently reading it over my shoulder. He'd heard about my photographic memory, and since then was coming to me when he needed a pointer about the most recent homework, as he apparently didn't want to put that burden on his teammates.

"Oh? That?" I responded, turning off my scroll immediately after finishing 'Sure thing' and sending it along. "Nothing. Just… meeting a friend later to hang out." I told him. That much was true. What we'd be doing once we got there, however, was beyond me.

"Oh, okay." He replied, sounding uncertain, but not thinking much on it. "But getting back to the assignment Professor Port gave us…" he then continued, resuming his question about what we were supposed to write about.

"You're meeting a friend later!? Who is it?" Azure's cheerful tone bounded into our conversation, looking as energized as ever.

"Chroma. He wanted to hang out in Vale tonight. Old town stuff, just us." I then told her, pre-empting any attempt to want to participate.

"Who's Chroma?" Jaune then asked. "Sorry, don't mean to pry, but, I am right here."

"A friend from back home. He came out here before me, and we're doing something tonight. Speaking of doing things, I have something to take care of. See you." I then finished, rising out of my seat and leaving the table, headed out to a remote part of the grounds.

No one really came out here, so it was the perfect place for a concealed workshop. Since no one would notice a tunnel created in complete silence, nobody came looking when I started to reshape the area behind a cliff wall to serve as my quiet area. After all, when I recreated a seamless wall of stone for the door, it was impossible for a normal person to tell where the door was.

Now inside this area, I looked at the rather dingy construction. The walls were solid rock and the construction of the area was good, but it lacked any kind of utility at the moment beyond a work table in the middle of the room, along with an empty wall, set up with spaces for the weapons I planned to put together.

Damn it, Chroma, you don't think people are going to notice if I just disappear every so often?

Either way, back to work.

Looking over the blueprint I'd dreamed up after watching the weapon lockers in action, I chuckled a little to myself "A _weapon_ locker. Nice." I thought aloud.

* * *

That night, upon returning to Vale, I met up with Chroma, and found myself going with him toward a darkened building, no particular markings or anything to say it wasn't just someone's house. It was a little big for that, but there was nothing to say it wasn't the case.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked him, confused. What were we here for.

"Yeah, this is the address he gave me. Let's go around the back. They'll be waiting for us." Chroma informed me, the two of us stepping over to the back of the building, where, indeed 'Big Red' and a few of the masked guys like the one we'd met before were waiting.

"About time you two got here! We were beginning to think we'd have to get _ourselves_ in." 'Big Red' commented, clearly annoyed.

"Hey, it takes me a while to get out of Beacon unnoticed, all right?" I retorted.

"Sorry we're late, boss! So what's the score?" Chroma then said, getting between me and him.

"This building here. They're using it for storage since its harder to find. We have to get in without using the door or they'll be all over us. It's also a well-trafficked area, so we have to be subtle." He then said, explaining the situation. "That's where your friend here comes in. Get us through the wall, cover it up and wait for a knock on the wall, all right? Then open it up and close it again, that's it!" He finished, as if explaining how to tie ones shoes.

"Sounds simple enough." I commented. "But what are we doing here?"

"Liberating." Chroma then told me. "These people steal from others, so we steal from them. Smooth, right?"

I couldn't help but feel Chroma was being less than honest about it.

However, I didn't come all the way out here just to do nothing, and Chroma needed me to do this, so I decided to suck it up this time. "All right. Be ready to move, though." I told them, stepping over to the wall. Once I confirmed no one was in immediate sight of it, I placed my hand to it, the brick of the wall seeming to unravel until there was a hole large enough for even a large man to be able to fit through easily.

"All right, let's go!" 'Big Red' instructed, Chroma and the other men stepping in through the hole before he went in himself, leaving me alone on the outside of the wall. Before the last guy went through, I managed to catch a glimpse of the strange looking symbol on his back.

I know I've seen that symbol before, but… nah. I'd need a little more light to confirm that, it looked a bit blurry in the dark by the dusty wall.

Closing the wall in behind them, I waited, leaning against the wall as sounds of things moving around could be heard from inside. Muffled instructions, a sort of victorious laugh, and the sound of things being dragged across the room.

As I stood outside, several people passed by on the sidewalk with an angle to see this back area. However, as they just saw me standing there, they clearly thought nothing of it. Such was the advantage I apparently brought to this little operation.

Now, as a knock came from behind me, I knew they were done inside. Reaching back and sculpting the wall back into an escape hole, I watched as they all left the hole, each of them carrying a large crate with unknown content. 'Big Red' finally exiting the hole, unburdened, before I put the wall back into its original form.

"Well, that was easy." He stated simply, nodding along before saying "Well done, boys. You two run along now, we're just gonna get going."

Now, however, as his men left with him, I watched as they stepped under a streetlamp, the symbol on the backs of the rest of his guys becoming obvious now.

The White Fang!? The. White. Fang!?

Now grabbing Chroma once the others were out of view, I glared at him "What the hell is this, man? You've got us working with a goddamn _terrorist_ organization!?"

Pushing away my hands, Chroma then gestured toward the street "It can wait until we're away from the scene, bud." The two of them then moving quickly from the area, until we were a few blocks away.

As soon as we were far enough away, I stepped over to him again "So, you were saying?"

"Yeah, I know. They do some things that aren't the most respectable. But it's really overblown by the media. I've been around these guys for a while, and all they want is a better life for the faunus." Chroma then explained sincerely, clearly believing this.

"They _kill_ people, Chroma! Why would your boss opt to work with people like them?!" I then demanded indignantly.

"Because they do what he needs them to do, like us. Means to an end, so that he gets what he wants. They're no different from us. You think the conditions of faunus labour all over Remnant haven't killed anyone before!?" Chroma then challenged me.

"So, because some scumbags kill people, we have to become scumbags ourselves, is that it? What's up with this!?" I demanded, starting to wave my arms around as I spoke.

"Hey, it's what we signed up for. You didn't think such an easy, well-paying job would be strictly legit, did you?" Chroma then asked me, a hint of smugness in his tone.

"Oh, come on, Chroma! You _know_ I trusted you to be honest with me! You said we weren't doing anything wrong!" I countered indignantly.

"But we aren't. I didn't say we weren't doing anything technically illegal. But we aren't doing anything wrong." Chroma then clarified. "You assumed that. When society pushes you down relentlessly, then you've eventually got to push back, man. Don't act all virtuous with me just because you've had it so easy!"

"Oh, come on! That's not the point, you idiot! We can't get caught up in anything illegal!" I retorted to his attempt at a lecture.

"Well, you're going to have to get used to it! It wasn't so easy for me at first, but I did too. After all, we both just helped commit a break-and-enter, not to mention theft… aaaand trafficking stolen goods." Chroma then pointed out to me.

"Oh, that's just wonderful. Now you're going to blackmail me!? I thought we were friends!" I declared combatively.

"No, I'm just saying that we're in it together, bud. But even with no name, the boss' description of you would probably lead them to you if you were to bail on us now. He's the one you'll have to worry about threatening you with that." Chroma the continued to inform me.

I was starting to shake at this point, in a combination of the horrifying realization that I was now officially a criminal, and the fact that I now had several people who knew that who wanted me to continue being such.

"I'll give you some time to process this. I'll let you know when the next job comes up." Chroma then resigned, now walking off from the area, before I made my way, once again, back to Beacon, quietly getting back to my room.

As I moved to my bed, Azure's voice spoke from her bed, where it had looked like she was asleep. "Busy lately, boss?" she asked me quietly.

"Please, don't call me that." I said quietly, before lying down in my bed.

It was strange. I was dead tired, but I couldn't fall asleep, my brain racing with the new reality I had to deal with: I'd always considered myself a good person, and now, here I was, helping criminals break into buildings! I couldn't even talk about how messed-up that was, because if I told anyone about it, then they would know what I was doing as well!

I ended up spending practically the entire night tossing and turning before eventually getting myself to sleep.

* * *

Eventually waking up, I looked around the team's room, only to see everyone else was already gone.

What time was it?

Checking the clock, I now understood why everyone was gone. It was already the early afternoon. At this point, I was really glad the weekend had started, so I hadn't had to go to class today, but it was surprising nobody woke me up today. Usually if one of us tried to sleep in, the others would wake them up.

Getting up and getting changed into new clothes for today, I stepped over to the computer near the wall, wondering if they ever managed to figure out what happened at that building we hit. Looking into the news, I listened to the most recent video:

' _In the latest in a long string of dust robberies, a storage facility was robbed last night._

 _It is reported that, unlike the rest of the robberies, there was no sign of forced entry, nor were there any witnesses to the act._

 _However, it is speculated that the crime was most likely instigated by known criminal Roman Torchwick, who has thus far evaded capture. Any information on this crime or any of the previous robberies should be conveyed to the Vale Police Department.'_

Roman Torchwick?

Looking at the mugshot of the man on the screen, I nodded to myself. That was definitely 'Big Red' as Chroma called him. Why would Chroma not use _his_ name? He's a known criminal, I doubt its an attempt to be subtle about it.

Or perhaps it was, but not for very long?

Either way, this _definitely_ isn't good.

Little did I know that it was about to get even worse.

* * *

Armed with my weapon's latest rendition: a long spear with its ranged component on the opposite end of the pole from the bladed end, I was panting with effort, in the middle of a particularly grueling training session with Diamond, who seemed less than impressed with my current fighting.

"Come on! You're still lightly stabbing at me like you're using a rapier! That thing's too heavy for that!" He chided, parrying my last overhead swing before a well-timed kick knocked me to the ground. "When you said you were going to keep switching up your weapon to keep the enemy guessing, I expected something like this to happen. If you keep switching up weapons, your muscle memory is going to slip up at some point." Now offering his hand to help me up.

Accepting the hand and standing back up, I backed up from him, swinging the spear in a brief spin to put it back into combat position. "I know it's a more difficult route than mastering a single true weapon, but at the end, I believe it will be far more effective."

Getting back into fighting stance, Diamond nodded slightly. "All right then. Come at me again."

Charging forward, I brought the weapon forward in a thrust toward Diamond's middle, meeting his blade before briefly pulling back, then doing the same toward his leg. This time, his parry shifted the blade enough that I could use the momentum to bring the back end of the spear forward, firing a shot at him from that end, before bringing the bladed end back forward in an upward sweep across his middle. This time, I managed to knock the smaller of his two swords out of his hand. "See what I mean? Understanding how to use every weapon also means I would understand the weaknesses of said weapons. For instance, the small reach of your swords means I can keep you at a distance where your swords are ineffective." Now taking an overhead swing, before spinning the back end around again and taking another shot. "I'm also liking how I placed the gun end on this one."

Smiling a little as the shot had knocked his weapon out of his hand, I nodded slightly. "See? I _can_ do this."

"Have you learned the weakness of your spear yet?" He then asked, before rushing forward, pushing the blade upward before flipping me over his shoulder. "Once someone does get in, you're in trouble. Especially since you need both hands to wield it effectively."

Now pushing my left hand down on the spear at the same time my right pushed up, I managed to surprise Diamond with an ankle sweep when he thought I was out. "Mind the reach." I commented before standing back up again.

Getting back to his feet and noticing I was in combat stance again, Diamond looked like he was in thought for a moment "You know, Jett, you've been getting really into our team training sessions. What's got you so gung ho all of a sudden?" he asked me curiously. "You going to put a stop to the Phantom?"

"The Phantom? What now?" I asked him at this, silently hoping he was talking about some kind of campus legend about a ghost, or some kind of geist grimm had been spotted nearby.

"Oh, you didn't hear? The news was talking about it earlier. Apparently there's some new scumbag going around helping Torchwick and his ilk break into buildings. They called him 'the Phantom', on account that he gets into places without anyone noticing, by no discernable method. They're saying the police got an anonymous tip about it." Diamond then explained.

'The Phantom'? So now that nickname is a persona?

It was probably Chroma, or it could have been Torchwick himself, trying to spin a tale to keep me in what they were doing.

"Hmm… strange, how they'd know if nobody saw the guy break in." I observed.

"I thought about that as well." Eunry stated, having been listening from the side of our match. "I'm sure the police believe it, because none of the other robberies were done in the same undetectable way. That means the person involved might be new to their group. It would give the theory some credibility."

Please, don't think any harder on it, Eunry.

"Yeah. If I could figure out who it was, I'd show 'em to prison myself! Some scumbag who probably has an overinflated ego, breaking into places to steal stuff! If they're that good at what they do, there's definitely a _legit_ way to get their money!" Diamond declared.

Well, damn…

"Yeah, I know! If we let this just keep happening, then it's only going to get worse, with people thinking they can keep getting away with this kind of thing!" Azure said supportively to Diamond.

"Do you think we can figure this out, Jett? If we find out whoever's doing the break-ins, we could be able to help the police take down the whole dust ring!" Eunry asked me.

Back me into a damned corner, why don't you?

"Y-yeah. I suppose we could do that. Definitely wouldn't hurt our standing if we helped put a stop to that kind of thing." For a moment, thinking strategically about how I would stop me, I blurted out "The other teams might even be willing to help if we go to them with the idea of stopping all this criminal activity."

Damn it! Why can't I just keep my mouth shut!?

"Hey, that's a great idea! I'll bring it up to Nora next time we talk! She loves the idea of taking down bad guys!" Azure exclaimed, sounding enthusiastic about the idea.

"Sounds great. I'd love to help make the city safer for the people there. Maybe we could get Weiss to help, its her family the criminals are stealing from, after all." Eunry told me, confident smile telling me that she clearly _was_ going to think harder on what was going on.

"Yeah, Schnee probably _hates_ those criminal types, maybe we could ask her and her team to help us out, as well." Diamond then suggested.

Not good. If there are the better part of _three_ teams trying to run Chroma and I to ground, there's a very good chance it could happen, long before I could figure out a way to unentangle myself from this web of nonsense!

"Right, of course! I think we should cut the session short then. We've done enough for today." I managed to get out, sounding as calm as I could possibly be, given the circumstances.

This ought to make for an interesting semester, at the very least…


	6. Chapter 6 - JADE vs RWBY

Well, I guess I wasn't wrong about the semester.

Several weeks had passed since the first incident of 'the Phantom', and it seemed that not only the police, but our three teams that had looked into the matter were stumped, none at the time knowing that the very threat they were looking for was only a few feet from them.

Even so, it had become increasingly difficult to mask the reasons I was going into Vale with regularity from the rest of my team. At first, they were fine with me going into town to help Chroma with various things, but it seemed they were growing worried about my safety with the increasing number of incidents, and talking them out of coming with me was getting harder and harder to manage.

At least the jobs themselves weren't that difficult. It was still mostly just a matter of me going up to a wall, putting a temporary hole in it, and closing it behind _them_ , and later _us_ when they decided I had to go in with them to keep me from standing outside of every place that got hit. They took it as validation when they ran into something difficult to get into once inside the building, needing me to clear the obstacles inside.

I'd even started turning the whole thing into a persona, one that came into being when we had been spotted during one of the jobs. When our group started to leave the building while the others engaged with local security, I knew it was only a matter of time before I got recognized: either by someone I met in town, or by someone investigating the matter.

Putting together a faceless mask, where the only holes were for me to see out of, I started bringing a different set of gear with me, to keep anyone from connecting me to what was going on, down to the black nightstick I started to carry on me, being the least lethal weapon I could think of while still being armed.

Apparently, a picture of me in that getup had even gotten onto the news at one point. Hell, that picture was hanging up on Diamond's 'investigation board'. It seemed to be frustrating him that even as they caught one or two of the others on our jobs, they never could catch Roman, myself or Chroma, the only ones who knew who I actually was.

At least I had been able to keep my hands relatively clean so far, never having actually engaged any of the guards yet, though I was certain Roman was trying to think of a way to 'get me into the game'.

"That's enough!" Diamond almost shouted in exasperation. "I've gone over this so many times, but there's still no connection! They infiltrate, get what they're looking for, and get out while neither damaging the building, nor destroying the inside of the place!"

Luckily, since the police weren't going to just trust a bunch of kids with their investigation, our teams weren't getting the actual details of anything they'd found outside of the news. So the investigation was mostly just a hobby for straining our teams' mental faculties in our spare time.

That was about the only good thing about this, though, as I still hadn't found an opportunity to get myself out of the crap that Chroma got me into, and things were getting more and more secure as we went around the city at this point.

"Hey, cheer up, bud. We'll find them." I told him, offering encouragement without actually giving information.

"Come on, you guys! Cheer up!" Azure called to the two of us, patting each of us on the back. "After all, we've got quite the training event today!"

"Training?" Diamond asked "There's something a bit more important going on right now.", he then stated irritably.

"But this is a big one! There's apparently a four-on-four mock tourney for any team wanting to try out for the Vytal tournament! Come on, it'll be fun!" she offered encouragingly.

"I think it would help get our minds off of this for a bit. Get back to it fresh later, right?" I suggested to a doubting Diamond.

Eunry now nodded along "Our training sessions have been getting better lately. Maybe we should take part. The qualifier matches for the Vytal tournament are next month, just before our guests arrive, this'll help us get ready."

As much as Diamond had been quietly opposed at first, it seemed Eunry had finally managed to get past his doubts about it. "I suppose we could do it. Especially with how gung-ho Jett's been about training lately."

"So, you'll go for it?" I asked him, not satisfied with his initial hesitant answer.

"Yes, I will!" Diamond declared. We'd played this game more than once, so we both knew the rules.

"Great! Let's get ready! Jett, you'll have to sign us up!" Azure informed me briefly, before grabbing the rest us the instant we got into our combat attire and ran us out toward the training arena, where Professor Goodwitch was currently waiting with scroll in hand, looking unsurprised to see us there.

"I was wondering when Miss Klejnot was going to bring you guys in. I require the team leader to sign up any participants. Though your time may be better used improving your schoolwork, Mister Stremm. I was disappointed by the last assignment you turned in." She commented as we made to sign up for the bouts.

Yeah, the last assignment I hardly had time to even glimpse at, between training, weapons checks, equipment modifications, and my regular trips out to Vale. Even my photographic memory can only go so far to compensate for lack of effort put in.

Once she eventually signed us up, I stepped toward the seats to observe the matches.

"What's up with that, Jett? YOU messing up an assignment? I mean, I get it when I screw up, but you're so good at that kind of stuff!" Diamond commented when we reached our seats.

"What can I say? Sometimes, I don't quite get the content…" however, I resumed after the briefest of pauses "…there's a difference between knowing what it is, and how to apply it when you need to." This was preempting the trolling from Diamond I knew would come if I didn't.

"I know that, but that's still surprising." Eunry assented, agreeing with Diamond.

If I wasn't careful, something as dumb as missed assignments was going to do me in! But what was I to do? I could hardly do my homework while on a job!

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry about that. I'm gonna make the team look bad." I commented, letting slip a tiny bit of the pressure I was under, though no one would get it.

"Nah, that's okay! One thing going bad won't make us bad! Right guys?" Azure stated cheerfully. "Though you may wanna start getting to bed earlier. You're starting to look like me when you wake up." She then observed, her voice changed into a tone of concern. She well knew how she was in the morning, and evidently didn't want me to become the same way.

Trust me, Azure, nothing would please me more than not going on night runs anymore.

"Well, either way, let's watch the rest of the bouts." I stated, now directing the topic away from me so we could watch the others fight. It was especially satisfying watching Cardin and his team get swept by team CFVY after knowing how they kept messing around with poor Velvet.

"Very good performance, despite being over-matched." Eunry critiqued, knowing that the second-year team had been far more likely to win from the start.

"Well, I suppose I've got to give them that." I agreed with a slight nod, before our match was finally called.

"The next match…" Professor Goodwitch declared "…is Team JADE against Team RWBY! Both teams, report to the training field." She finished, as she filled the holes back up that were created by the last match up.

Hmm… reinforcing bars under the concrete floor? Good, that might come in handy.

Stepping down to the floor of the arena, I looked across the floor at Team RWBY, who were showing up at the same time.

"Hey guys. Let's have a nice, clean match. After all, this isn't actually the qualifier." I stated, nodding across at them.

"Of course. We'll win either way." Weiss told me confidently, smirking at me now.

"Heh, that's what you think, princess!" Azure challenged, spreading her arms and pushing out her chest in an obvious gesture of challenge.

"I guess we're gonna find out!" Yang interjected, before facing me. "I'll try not to hurt you too much, kay?"

"Hopefully you won't need to worry about it." I consoled simply, now readying the spear I was still wielding, as the rest of the team readied their weapons.

A loud tone from the ceiling then signaled the start of the match.

Now, quickly, the two teams moved in on each other. The battlefield was a flat plane, so there wasn't really all that much in the way of strategic planning that could be done. It seemed, because of that, that the immediate fight had jumped to each member of the team taking on a different member of the other team.

In my case, I had barely raised my weapon when a rose-petaled blur practically teleported into me, managing to jump a sweep of a scythe blade moving toward my feet, the instant I landed, my spear moved in a downward swing toward Ruby, who parried the attempted strike with her scythe, a blur moving out of the way of my shot as I attempted to spin my weapon and fire the gun end at her.

Damn, this girl was fast.

The two of us fought for several moments in a whirling blur of spinning weapons, distinguished from the outside only by their colour. However, a strike coming from my left suddenly sent me flying to the side, landing just in time to see Blake coming charging at me, her weapon which, frankly, had always somewhat confused me raised to strike.

Taking the moment I had, I pushed the floor of the arena under us in a way almost akin to a tremor, the sudden shift in the floor causing it to ripple and break up as the wave of my semblance moved across the floor, though the end of the wave only phased through a shadow left behind by the evading Blake, whose short-sword now met the handle of my spear, barely managing to keep myself from taking another direct hit.

However, there was no time to think, as the red blur that was Ruby had returned, now coming from my right, the floor seeming to ripple again under me, before what was directly under my feet sent me rapidly upward, my ascent not stopping even after the ground stopped, empty concrete taking the hit from Ruby's scythe as I was now several feet in the air, spear now leaving my hand as I had thrown the weapon at Blake, again only meeting a shadow before I landed, weaponless.

Grabbing onto a piece of reinforcing bar and using my semblance to separate it from the rest of the floor, the piece reshaping into a rapier-like sword, before I moved to attack Ruby, needing to take the initiative, or be overwhelmed by the two-on-one.

Seriously, where the hell were my teammates?

I didn't even want to risk the sideways glance to find out, as my blade was met by Ruby's parry, before I shifted to one side, toward the heavy end of her scythe, managing to side-step a heavy swing before a quick strike managed to hit home, provoking a red shimmer that appeared around her, striking her aura and knocking her back slightly.

However, there was no time to celebrate the small victory, as a noise from behind me caused me to jump back from Ruby, in time to see Blake's sword glance my arm, striking my aura, and pushing me to one side. Following my training, I allowed myself to move into the momentum, taking a swing at Blake, meeting her blade, before I aimed a downward kick toward her leg for my advancing step, attempting a stab once I moved in, again meeting that rather frustrating shadow, before having to duck an upward blade that now moved over my head.

"That weapon is a mistake against us." Blake commented nonchalantly. I knew why: this was a facsimile of Weiss's weapon, merely lacking the dust chambers, and they trained against a specialist all the time.

That was why I was doing it.

"Would you expect it?" I asked, amused, before I feinted a forward thrust, then taking the risk of reflexively throwing my weapon into the least likely spot Blake would move.

Which was exactly where she reappeared to get struck by the projectile as I picked my spear back up, readying it for Ruby to come back and attack.

However, a moment passed, and Ruby hadn't come back. Yang, however, did.

I could distantly hear Ruby yelling as I moved to the side before Yang smashed her fist into the floor. She was vulnerable for only a moment. Attempting a thrust of my re-acquired spear into her exposed side, before my weapon hand suddenly found itself encased in ice spikes.

As soon as my hand stopped, Yang moved for a direct strike against me, knocking me back with a brief series of well-directed strikes, before a mace-staff struck her unexpectedly surprisingly sending Yang flying across the arena, myself still flopping to the ground after her strikes, the spikes shattering on impact.

It was about time someone actually helped me.

In retaliation for getting my hand frozen, I stomped down onto the floor, sending another shock-wave toward her, shaking up the floor of the arena before she could land her intended blow on Diamond, a black rune appearing just before she was thrown clear of the shock-wave.

This seemed to draw her attention, as now Weiss sent several more ice shots pelting toward me. Spinning the spear in front of me, I pushed aside the air in front of me, forcing it around the area of lowest pressure at the center – me, so when the shots made impact, the ice dust scattered and left an icy trail behind me at either side, a gale seeming to sweep me from all directions once I stopped, the air returning to the near-empty pocket, causing me to take a several deep breaths, as if I had just spent some time at the top of a mountain.

"Eunry…" I started, taking another breath. "Cover fire…" steeling myself for a run at Weiss.

As soon as the first shot from Eunry's staff-gun rang out, I bounded forward, jumping from one ramping piece of the arena floor that had been shifted to the side by my earlier shock-wave. Doing so, I bounded in time to avoid the sporadic return fire coming from Weiss as I advanced, as she also had shots from Eunry to deal with.

At least, until those shots stopped. It was all right, as I reached the last bound before getting to my opponent, but I was fairly certain she was being engaged at the moment. I couldn't help that, however, as I had committed to the attack on Weiss, bringing the bladed end of my spear down in an overhead swing using my current momentum.

She had no option but to dodge, though she left a present as she did, freezing the end of my weapon to the ground while she was bounding backwards.

However, by the time Weiss moved to exploit the opening, a scimitar with a gun running up its spine met her rapier, turning aside her immediate strike.

This wasn't good: Though I got my weapon out of there by leaving behind a part of the metal when I remade it, I was now fencing against someone who specialized in this fighting method – not where I wanted to be.

After a brief exchange of strikes and parries, Weiss commented "Adaptable, but your finesse needs work."

"Thanks for the pointers, at least." I ceded: that kind of thing was as close to a compliment as I might get from the proud girl.

Pointing my blade at Weiss, I fired the gun at her, using the momentum from the shot fired to whirl my blade around as part of a spin that led into my strike, sweeping across her front, though both the round and the strike were parried by the elegant rapier-play performed by the young Schnee.

Blocking a forward thrust from the blade, I shifted to the side, my weapon forming into a blade at the end of a chain, swinging it at range well away from the reach of her rapier, from which I had bounded away, though looking outright shocked at the sudden change of the weapon she had been facing. At this point, she bounded out of my increased range, only for her to run directly into Diamond's sights behind her, well-placed point-blank shot hitting her in the back and knocking her out of the fight.

 _One down… where's Azure?_

Now able to spot her at the back corner of the arena, I stepped toward the ice block where part of my weapon remained, I plucked the piece out the ice, which simply seemed to melt off of it, putting the entire weapon back together into my spear, the gun end of which I trained on the situation across the arena, where Ruby and Yang were attempting to double-team her the same way she and Blake had done to me earlier.

However, my weapon was redirected, as several shots rang out toward me, leaving me to turn and return fire at Blake, who now closed on me, in time for our blades to again meet. At this point, I again attempted to counter, swinging the blade into her illusory copy before she appeared to my right, landing a quick strike in on me, knocking me back before a shot rang out, sending Blake falling back.

Thanks, Eunry.

Jumping away from Blake, as Diamond rushed in to attack her, I took aim again at Ruby and Yang. Unfortunately, I was again unable to attack at range, as once again the red blur closed in on me, right back to where I started the fight out.

However, this seemed the best position to fight right now, as I have been having a great deal of trouble engaging at short range with the long reach but awkward close-quarters combat inherent in the long weapon, much like Ruby's gave her.

 _Funny, Diamond mentioned something like that._

As our weapons once again clashed, I then heard shots ringing out behind me, and what sounded like a buzzer again, that seemed to make noise every time someone got knocked out of the round.

Bounding backwards from Ruby's next swing, I caught a glimpse of the two-on-one in my peripheral vision: Blake and Yang attacking Eunry. I need to help her!

However, this was as far as my thought process went, as I was once again set upon by the relentless red speed-ball that gave some manner of yell as she closed in, again forcing me to avoid a rapid swing, part of me directing the movement of our duel toward where Eunry was gradually being overwhelmed by the coordinated attack from Yang and Blake.

The only way we still had a chance was together.

But this was struck down before I could do anything, as Ruby, seeming to guess what I was working toward, shifted the fight to place herself between me and Eunry, the whirl of combat moving away from her rather than toward her, before I made my last attempt to get to her, striking the ground just before Ruby, lifting the ground she would be stepping onto in an effort to trip her up.

As Ruby fell for this plan in her reckless attacks, she went past the gun-end of my spear, earning a slight smirk from me, just before I pulled the trigger. Which sent Ruby flying, a second shot hitting her in mid-air, having lobbed another round at her, spear now shouldered as she flew away.

 _All right, now to help Eunry-_

This was as far as my thought process got, as now the buzzer sounded twice in the same moment, Blake and Yang now facing toward me, Eunry clearly having been eliminated. "Sorry, Jett." She said sadly, looking a little disappointed.

"It's… fine, Eunry." I got out with a heavy sigh, unable to conceal the fact that I'd been hit pretty hard already so far.

I was getting pretty tired, but that was no excuse to just LET them win! Would I do that if I were attempting to stop Roman and Chroma…?

To hell with that!

Now I was up against two opponents, each of whom didn't show their state at all, whether or not they actually had it as bad as I did at the moment. "All right, then." Whirling my spear back into my combat stance, and getting ready to fight the two. Breathing heavily, I attempted to adjust the ground beneath me to better affirm my stance, but the floor did not change.

This is bad. Only one thing to do, and it was crazy.

Take the offensive.

Taking a calm, deep breath, I rushed toward the two now, a defiant shout emerging from me as three of us closed on each other. They would be in my range before I was in theirs, so I took advantage of that, shifting toward my left to keep me out of the direct center between them, I aimed a thrust toward Yang, using the shift in angle to fire a round at Blake.

The strike was parried by an upward blast from Yang's gauntlet-gun, whilst the round met only a shadow, and I bounded backward to retain my reach advantage. However, I was forced to defend myself immediately, the black shimmer leading back into Blake taking a swing at me from my right, whilst Yang continued to advance from my left.

Were this a flat battlefield, I'd have no choice but to be ground down to nothing.

But, we weren't on a flat plane anymore, were we?

The handle of my spear parried Blake's sword, before the gun-end of my spear now found itself on the ground, as I vaulted over the pair with it, firing a shot into the ground to continue my momentum, landing on one of the slanted pieces of the floor from my earlier attacks, before I bounced back toward the two using my angled momentum, bladed point taking a swing at Yang, who was closer to me, before I swung predictively at the other side, before Blake appeared there, blade raised to block my strike before I landed with a roll, turning immediately to confront the two again.

That's it, I just have to keep them guessing about my next move.

Spinning the spear in my hand, I took a series of rapid swings toward Blake, the arcs of which forcing her to jump back instead of forward with her illusory movements, I took a shot at Yang with the other end, and let the momentum take me into the next swing toward her, having to take a second to recover from her redirecting of my attack before re-engaging Blake.

A second too slow.

I felt her there before she appeared, immediately behind me with a kick to my back, which forced me forward awkwardly – directly into Yang's advancing fist.

A second later, all I could see was the floor directly under me.

"Ow." Was the only noise to escape my lips, before the buzzer overhead made clear what had happened to anyone that missed it.

"You okay?" Yang asked good-naturedly, as I could hear two people approach my fallen form.

"Yeah…" I stated, voice muffled by the floor. "…just… need a second." I continued, exhausted by now, before lifting my head up to see the hand offered to me that had, just a moment ago, knocked me to the floor.

Accepting the offered hand, I stood back up, and attempted to dust myself off, though my arms were somewhat delayed in their response before I forced myself to pick my spear back up.

"The winner of this training session is Team RWBY." Professor Goodwitch declared, the floor partially reassembling itself, though a rapier was attempting to get into the floor where a piece of reinforcement bar had been. "Mister Stremm, if you could kindly restore that piece to its original state."

"On it." I told her, moving slowly over to the broken floor, and picking up the blade, I attempted to manipulate it, though what remained in my hands was clearly a weapon.

I could hear the irritation in Professor Goodwitch's voice "Luckily, that was the last of our sessions for today, but I expect that section of floor repaired before the end of day, Mister Stremm. Hopefully that will make you think twice about tearing up the arena floor for a sparring match." Nodding along, I went back to my team.

"It was a good showing, I think." I offered encouragingly, smiling a bit even though we lost. "Sorry I couldn't finish it."

"You kidding? That was crazy!" Azure exclaimed. "We got two of them, anyway!"

"Though I've got to admit, tearing up the floor like that was a bit excessive." Diamond commented, shaking his head. Though, his smirk told me that this wasn't completely heartfelt.

"Well, not all of us can have a semblance that works no matter where you are." I stated, shaking my head in exactly the same way he just did, exchanging his smirk.

"Be aware, students…" Professor Goodwitch then started "…that the actual preliminary rounds to determine the teams representing Beacon in the Vytal tournament will be one month from today. Take what you learned today, and use it to your advantage. Class-." She started, before remembering this wasn't actually a class "…have a nice day." She finished, the teams now starting to clear out in varying states of fitness: some teams having not taken it as seriously as others.

"What happened to you anyway, Azure? I didn't even really see it after Ruby attacked me." I asked curiously while we were on the way out.

"Yang and Ruby. Double-teamed me before Ruby ran off, I guess to fight you. Got so disoriented by the first part that Yang got me by herself after." Azure admitted.

"I thought you were used to three-person fights?" I asked, confused. "Haven't you been training with these two for years?" I considered aloud.

"Yeah! But that's these guys!" Azure protested, flailing her arms a bit "I can generally guess what they're gonna do, but other teams that's a little harder!"

"Besides." Eunry added "We're usually all attacking each other. We never typically gang up on one other member. Unless they pissed us off that day." She added onto the end, tapping Diamond in the arm lightly with her fist.

"Well, that wasn't my fault, anyway! Though, there was something I wanted to ask you, Jett…" Diamond then stated, turning to me with a curious expression on his face "How'd you know where Blake was going to appear? I mean, I couldn't read her at all, that's how she got me. But you seemed to read exactly where she was going."

Sighing a bit to myself, I wasn't sure how to explain where I got the impression that I knew where she was going "That? Well, I'm not really sure. I know how my luck runs, though, and so I just asked myself 'where was the worst place _for me_ to have her appear'? It could have easily backfired, but it just kept working for some reason. Though the last part, I don't think she teleports, so I used the arc of my strikes to keep her from moving in a given direction to stop her getting behind me…" I explained to him. "Guess it didn't work well enough, though."

"Incorrect." A cool voice then stated from behind me, Team RWBY having followed us apparently, as Blake was clearly the source of the voice. "I was actually surprised you kept guessing where I was going. If it hadn't been two-on-one, I would have been in trouble."

"Oh, really?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head, my arm straining to get back there. "Well, thanks, I guess."

Ruby, however, looked as if she was bursting to ask something. "Something up, Ruby?" I asked, confused.

"Can I see that!?" she asked, excited, making grabby-hands at my spear.

"Oh, sure, I guess." I stated with a smile. I tried to keep my expression calm, but really, the girl's sheer enthusiasm for weaponry warmed my heart as a fellow armaments connoisseur.

Once she got it in her hands, she stepped to the side, before taking a couple of idle spins of the weapon. "Whoa, the ends are heavier than I thought. How does the middle hold together like this?" she thought aloud, taking several swings of the bladed end, lining up the gun end with an imaginary target. "How can you aim it like this?" she again through aloud, though this time, she looked over at me, expecting an answer.

"I usually use my shoulder for that. I suppose you could aim it like a rifle, but in the middle of a fight where every fraction of a second counts, can't exactly get the weapon under my arm as effectively as I'd like. I definitely can't use it like Eunry's weapon." I stated, pointing at the blade on its far end. "That's why its more of a cannon than a rifle, it uses heavier explosive rounds, so its range tends to fall off pretty quickly."

"Isn't the caliber a little small for a cannon?" Ruby the asked curiously, looking over the end of the weapon now, observing all the design details.

"It is, but any bigger, and the ammunition would shift the weight too drastically, or force me to carry less rounds per magazine. I use that thing a lot, so I need it to stay loaded." I informed her, before she handed it back to me.

"Did you consider using a lighter material for the rounds?" she then asked me.

"Once or twice. I even considered augmenting the gun end with wind dust ports to help in aiming a heavier end, but that would leave another component that could fail or run out of charge in a long fight." I then continued our conversation.

"Right, right. Just seems a little weak against bigger grimm. Just sayin'." Ruby then commented.

"That's true. Been working on a method to javelin the weapon at an enemy using the round to accelerate it, like what Phyrra does, but the trigger's a bit far from where my hand would be throwing it, trying to decide on a solution." I observed.

" _These two do go on a lot." Weiss commented, shaking her head._

" _Twenty Lien says this goes on for another half hour." Diamond challenged her._

" _What? You want to bet on this discussion?!" Weiss responded, sounding almost offended by the suggestion. "Fine. There's no way it'll go THAT long."_

" _I'll take that action." Yang responded confidently. "Once you get my sis going on weapons, she can talk all day."_

The conversation I was only dimly aware of, but for some reason, Weiss was handing both Yang and Diamond some Lien while we discussed potential upgrades and modifications in the school's courtyard.

"Sometime, I have to show you my workshop, where the magic happens. Both figuratively, and literally." I offered to her without thinking.

"Really!? That's awesome! Just let me know when!" Ruby exclaimed, sounding positively giddy at the prospect.

Well, crap. I've done it now. I mentioned the shop to someone. Not only that, I invited a fellow enthusiast to come see it! My own team doesn't even know about it!

"Wait, workshop? You don't have anything like that in the room." Diamond commented, clearly having heard us.

Groaning aloud, I commented "Don't worry about it, guys. I didn't leave it in the room because I figured you'd find it boring." A long-practiced response should I accidentally do something stupid like this.

"Boring? We all made our own weapons, Jett. Why would we find your work boring?" Eunry offered encouragingly, figuring it was a confidence issue of some kind I was dealing with.

"Don't worry about it, all right? I'll show you guys later." I told them.

Once I had properly secured all my 'Phantom' gear.

"So Ruby gets the grand tour, but you'll hide your good stuff from your teammates? I see how it is." Diamond over-dramatized, looking as if in a huff.

"That's not it at all, you idiot!" I responded, unable to keep my arms from flailing a bit as I did so.

"Oh, then why are you as red as her cape, boss?" Azure asked with a smirk.

"I don't know what you mean!" I responded, though I could feel myself rapidly growing embarrassed, despite the laugh coming from right next to me.

"You guys get along so well! No wonder you're such good teammates!" Ruby exclaimed happily. "Either way, we've gotta get going. Get better soon, Jett!" she then finished, before leaving. She must have noticed my difficulty moving by now.

Once our teams had parted, and we were safely back in the room, I turned to Diamond and Azure, before saying "…no. That wasn't it at all. The one who violates the innocence of that adorable girl would deserve whatever horrid fate her sister could come up with!" I then informed them, annoyed at the implication.

"Actually, we wanted to ask about the workshop." Azure told me. "Could we see it? Where is it?" she asked curiously, her eyes alight.

"Well, you can't go until I decide it. It's somewhere only I can get to. Even if I wanted to now, I can't." I commented.

"There's no actual door, is there?" Diamond asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

"No, there isn't." I informed him.

"That's some hefty security!" Eunry commented. "What have you got in there, live grimm?"

A moment of silence before Diamond asked, sounding worried "You don't _actually_ have live grimm for target practice, do you?"

"No! I just like my privacy when I work on my weapons. Not having a door means no one can bother me in there." I explained to them. "I don't mean to offend with that, but weapon time is my 'me time'."

"Yet you invite Ruby to that time without a second thought?" Azure asked with a smirk.

"I already told you, that's not it! Her enthusiasm is infectious, that's all!" I responded, annoyed with the implication being made _again._

"Riiight." Azure responded, not sounding convinced.

"Either way, I need to take a nap so I can fix that floor later." I told them, going to lie down, my body not allowing any further argument, as I fell asleep the instant I laid down.

* * *

After a couple days of relative quiet, I found myself getting the always dreaded message from Chroma. " _Tonight. West docks. Usual drill."_

It was somewhat depressing that messages from an old friend, which before I came here I would have looked forward to, were now something to actually fear getting.

" _All right, so I've got to come up with another reason to split off from the team and go meet up with those scumbags."_

However, this was as far as I got in my thought process, as the rest of the team was getting into their combat gear. "Might as I ask where you guys are going?" I asked them curiously.

"You mean where _we're_ going?" Diamond corrected me, gesturing over to my waiting battle attire.

"We're going to Vale." Azure told me, looking quite determined. "We're going to go track down the Phantom before he ends up robbing some other dust supply somewhere in town. Get ready and let's go."

Honestly, I'm surprised this hadn't happened sooner.


	7. Chapter 7 - A Phantom Found

All right, I guess _this_ was how tonight was going to go…

Shortly after we had gotten into Vale, I made the suggestion "Perhaps we should split up? The city's pretty big, and it would be too late by the time we caught wind of something to actually move on it."

"But that would leave whoever found them out facing down all the thieves on their own, wouldn't it?" Diamond asked, skeptically.

"That's a risk we have to take. If anyone finds them out at all, we would have to delay them until the others show up to help. Keep your scrolls handy." I then told them, as I gestured to the scroll I drew from my coat.

"It's not my favourite plan, but I don't think we have any other options if we want to find them. The other teams are in town as well, so we should be able to cover A LOT of ground with the twelve of us." Eunry responded, giving a slight nod of approval.

"That's a great idea! We're finally gonna get this guy, and I'm gonna take him in myself!" Azure declared confidently.

 _Well, that doesn't bode well for me telling them at all._

"All right then. Let's go. If no one finds anything in two hours, then let the rest of us know where you are." I informed them, having to at least pretend that I was actually leading this operation in the city.

"Gotcha, boss! Let's get 'em!" Azure responded with a grin, before everyone split up into town, where apparently teams RWBY and JNPR were in town as well, meaning my job would be even more difficult to pull off. My 'Phantom' gear was currently on under my regular attire, but nobody seemed to have noticed before we separated.

Making my way quietly down to the west docks, where the sure sight of Chroma waiting for me made my stomach turn. I honestly HATED that the sight of my friend now made me want to retch, especially his false sense of friendliness once I arrived, even as he was perfectly willing to reveal my involvement if I went against them.

"Hey, buddy! All right, this one tonight's a cakewalk. Just get in, grab some boxes, get out. The boss even brought along a ride home this time!" Chroma told me happily, gesturing toward a nearby warehouse. It looked almost like the one Roman was using as a hideout, but I knew this was the wrong part of town for that.

Stepping over to the wall where nobody seemed to have gathered yet, I set about to work right away, able to hear the sound of footsteps behind me as the wall opened.

"All right, my skeleton key, get in there and check for security measures!" Roman's voice instructed from behind me.

"On it."

Bounding into the small room in the warehouse, I looked around the quiet building, where an assortment of large cases with the by-now-familiar snowflake on them were visible. Our target.

Honestly, I felt like crap stealing from Weiss' family, but there wasn't really anything else I could do for the time being. I had the root of a plan starting to form, but nothing tangible yet.

However, I could hear footsteps echoing through the large building: someone was here. Unsurprising, given the fact that we had hit so many places already. There was probably a silent alarm somewhere that would call for the police as soon as someone picked up on something wrong.

Peeking up just a moment, I spotted at least three sources of the footsteps walking through the building.

"At least three." I muttered quietly to the door. "You'll have to do it quietly if we don't want this botched."

"Then get them. In case you didn't get it, our guys don't do 'subtle'." Chroma muttered from the other side.

I should have figured they would do this eventually. They want me to have attacked someone, to deepen my involvement even further.

Barely able to suppress a groan of disgust as I moved from the small room to one of the racks in the warehouse, where I wouldn't be spotted by the immediate guards, shifting around to avoid being spotted, and creeping up behind one of the guards, just around the corner from one of them.

All right. Time to do this.

However, just before I went to make my move, a loud noise of mechanical vibration started up from the inside of my suit, able to actually hear the guard tense up around the corner.

 _My scroll! The report!_

At this, the scroll vibrated loudly again, as the second report came into the group, then a third.

"What the!? The Phantom!" the guard, after coming around the corner shouted, making a move to try to capture me, before the sound of the other guards rushing around the building was audible, a loud smack heard from outside, a panicked smack on a button!

Company's coming.

Managing to jump away from the guard's attack, I bounded from one shelf to another on my way to the upper catwalk.

I was a thief, not a thug. If they wanted to attack the guards just doing their job, they could do it themselves.

"Ah, that stupid punk!" a voice from outside groaned, before the rest of the men came through the hole in the wall, moving to attack the guards so that Roman could get away with as much of the dust as was possible.

Now, as the brawl broke out downstairs, including weapons' fire from both the guards and Roman's White Fang support, I made the move I had to make to preserve what was left of my current low-level involvement.

I made a break for it. Rushing over to the window on the upper level, breaking open the window and clambering out to the narrow outer balcony on the side the warehouse, essentially just a large windowsill, before I jumped up to the pillar that ran up the wall, managing to bound the rest of the way up to the roof.

 _Well, this isn't good._

"Hey!" a voice shouted from ground level, causing me to look down toward the base of the docks, able to spot someone tap something into their scroll, before moving to follow me as I went toward the edge of the roof.

Guess this is as good a time as any for a field test.

As I moved toward the edge of the roof, the small noise of mechanisms unlocking preceded the conversion of my arm guards into black gauntlets, each with the barrel of a weapon sticking out of the top of them.

 _3…2…1… now._

Firing the arm-guns at my feet, a sudden hurricane-force gale pushed me up into the air, aiding the jump I had started and propelling me toward the warehouse roof across from me, which had been too far to reach with a normal jump.

 _All right, that worked. Now…_

However, that was as far as I got, as when I reached the edge of this roof, the figure from down in the street was now atop the warehouse, where, in the unblocked moonlight, I could make out a distinct figure:

Blake.

 _This was DEFINITELY not good._

"Hold it!" she called out to me. "Looks like you've pulled one too many break-ins, 'Phantom'." She then told me, using my title mockingly. "This time, you're not getting away with it!"

"Oh, is that so?" I asked her, the voice filter I placed in my mask in case I ran into one of my teammates currently changing my voice so that she couldn't recognize the source. Bravado was necessary at this point in order to preserve the illusion for the moment. "I would hardly consider just you enough to stop me, bud." Drawing the nightstick I kept with me just in case I absolutely needed to fight.

I had two options currently: fight, or flee.

However, from having fought this girl before, I knew she was faster than I was, so flee wasn't necessarily an option unless I could lose her somewhere in the city. However, the prospect of the others finding out what was going on and aiming to help her was something I had no intention of experiencing, so the only real option was a combination of the two: fight her back until I could make an escape.

"Maybe not, but it looks like you're alone in this! The police will apprehend the criminals, and you'll be going right along with them." Blake then informed me.

She had been on her scroll before following me: she told her team and was stalling for time until they got here. With Ruby's speed, the time before she got help wouldn't be very long!

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I _really_ don't want to be doing that. I've got some things to take care of, and it would be a little hard to do so from inside a prison cell!" I retorted, before jumping from the side of the warehouse onto the roof of the next building over, sprinting across the roof of the building, only making it halfway across before my attacker was upon me.

Having to turn my weapon to guard against her blade, she cut the flimsy material I made it from in two without much effort. "I was expecting a better weapon, for someone with your reputation." She commented downright smugly.

"Oh? Better weapon, then how about this?" I challenged, letting the gauntlets whir to life again, bringing my fists together before a lightning arc went between them. "I don't want to fight you." I stated sincerely, giving her one more chance to back down.

However, she was a huntress, so I knew this was an empty gesture. "You expect me to believe that? Then give up and turn yourself in!" she instructed me.

Honestly, it was tempting sometimes: to just give up. To turn myself over without a fight and let things happen as they would.

However, a flash in my mind: Stahl, mourning that both his pupils turned to lives of crime, and threw away everything they could have been in pursuit of money, or whatever cause it was Chroma might believe in.

I would _not_ let that happen.

"I'm sorry, Blake. Really, I am, but I can't do that." Letting the lighting arc between my fingers, I struck, firing an arc just before her feet, causing her to jump back.

Honestly, it was pretty difficult fighting an opponent you didn't want to even score a hit on.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, guarded, changing her sword to its gun setting before we had a momentary standoff, myself standing at the edge of the building leading back to the warehouse I came from.

"Don't worry about it. I just do." I responded bluntly. It was seriously annoying that I couldn't keep to any of my usual mannerisms in the name of preserving the illusion that I wasn't who I clearly was.

"Have we… met?" she asked, sounding uncertain as I backed up a step toward the ledge.

"I suppose you could say that." I responded, not giving any more information than the question had asked.

Bounding quickly back to the other building using the wind dust, my aura was struck by several small hits as her short-barrelled gun took shots at me while I moved back toward the scene, where Roman and his grunts were currently extracting whatever boxes they thought worth salvaging.

Chroma told me Roman had aerial evac coming, so there might still be a chance I could get out of the current situation without resorting to violence or being hunted through Vale by my own friends!

However, as I grew nearer to the edge of this warehouse, headed back to the warehouse I broke out of, I was met by Blake, who attempted to throw her weapon wide, obviously intending to catch me in the line that ran from the back of it.

Managing to duck the line itself, I caught it on its way by, an arc running from my gauntlet into her weapon, sending her staggering back a moment.

Though, even in that state, I could tell she recognized the familiar-looking weapon design. I brought this with the expectation only _my_ team would be in the area, the addition of team RWBY was not something I thought would happen. Others might get a vague idea, but they knew these far too well not to notice.

"Who are you!?" she called out angrily, though I had the strange feeling she was starting to piece things together right now.

"Don't you worry about it." I responded. I wanted to be reassuring, to tell her I didn't want to do this, but there was nothing to be done at the moment except leave this botched job. Using the wind dust again to send myself into the air before landing back on the first warehouse's roof, I started across, though a metallic clang told me she was still following behind me, using her weapon as a hook to get her across the gap.

"You're not leaving!" she shouted angrily, now rushing at me again, part of me panicked, as there was nowhere else to go once I was back on this building. I was able to feel part of the roof shift beneath me, the metal roof piece forming into a blade, formation taking place so quickly that the pressure of the shape snapping off of the roof caused it to have actual forward momentum, whistling past her head, before sticking out of the rest of the roof by the handle.

"Well, that's unsettling." I commented, noticing her eyes widen as it suddenly seemed to all snap into place at once.

I'd done it. Used my semblance in front of someone who knew it well enough to recognize it.

However, the only thing to happen was for her to ask a singular question "Why?"

She knew.

Strangely, the question didn't sound like a demand, but rather, completely sincere: the girl wanted to know why someone she knew, someone her friends trusted would do something like this, and for so long.

"You wouldn't get it. I don't want to do this, but I have no other choice." I told her, stepping toward the outer edge of the warehouse, as the incoming whoosh of a bullhead coming in for a momentary landing was sign enough for me that it was time to get the hell out of here.

Despite the noise of the engines blocking out most of the noise nearby, I could swear I heard her say "Don't make assumptions, Jett." Before I jumped from the roof, landing with a thud and rushing over to the bullhead, picking up a bag with my clothes in it as I went.

Strangely enough, Blake hadn't moved to pursue me on my way to the bullhead, until I got an idea why: it wasn't necessary.

She had no need to follow me. She knew who I was, what I was as well now. All she had to do was breathe a word about it to Ozpin and not only would I be expelled, but _arrested_ as well.

"After botching the job like this, then trying to run, you still expect me to give you a lift out of here?" Roman asked irritably "The nerve of kids these days…"

"Do you really want to have this argument here?!" I asked him angrily, gesturing to the damaged warehouse and the oncoming sound of sirens rapidly approaching, not to mention the sight of Blake on the roof, and now Ruby closing in rapidly on the bullhead.

"Ah, crap… all right, let's go!" Roman shouted, the aircraft now taking off, Ruby now firing several shots at the craft, was now stymied by blasts of wind dust deflecting the shots as they approached the craft.

* * *

 _Well, I guess I'm sunk._

"What the hell was that!?" Roman demanded angrily, giving my still-masked face a swift backhand. "You brought your scroll with you on a job!? And you didn't even turn the vibration off!? That's an amateur mistake, even for you! Now we're down most of that shipment! You're lucky we got as much as we did, or I'd be in even worse of a mood!"

"What is it, Phantom, you let success get to your head that much, that you forget the basics during a mission?" Chroma added to the 'debriefing', which felt more like an interrogation.

"My team was with me in Vale! I had several things to do all at once and tripped it up! I'm sorry, all right!" I answered angrily. "Out of all the jobs we've pulled, this is the first time I've _ever_ tripped up! So cut me a little slack, all right!?"

"It's not just that." Chroma responded to me irritably, "You refused to engage when we were in the thick of it, and tried to just run off! You bitched out on us!"

"Well, unlike the rest of you, I am NOT a criminal!" I responded angrily, still stirred up because of what had happened.

"Well, of course you are! Apart from breaking into a couple dozen buildings over the last few months to aid and abet criminal activity, you're clean as a whistle!" Roman declared mockingly.

It was hard to argue with that, to be honest.

"Well, luckily for you, Phantom, I've got a second-chance job for you, a shot at redemption, it's not for a couple weeks yet, so it'll give you plenty of time to prepare for it. You screw this one up, and: trust me, you don't want to screw it up." Roman then outright threatened with his so-called 'shot at redemption'.

"You're lucky, Phantom. Normally, the boss doesn't give second chances." Chroma informed me, still looking aggravated at the moment about not getting all the dust we could have.

Something about it still didn't make sense to me, but I wasn't about to ask them about it now.

"All right, fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to Beacon. I get the feeling I'll be back before too long, though, so don't be surprised if I show up again." I told them, as I had a general sense that the end of my life was at hand.

Now exiting the building, I saw one of the White Fang guys that had been raiding our targets with us up until now, deciding to pause a moment before leaving "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" I asked him.

"What? You mean like 'why are we here'? Because that's one of life's great-" the faunus started to respond in a calm, cool voice.

"No, I mean, why we're here? In this town, in this hideout. Doing this." I commented, gesturing to the area around us.

"Well, I know why _we're_ here. The White Fang is here to try to strike back at the corrupt human hierarchy." He answered me simply. "Why _you're_ here, I couldn't tell you."

"Really? Strike back at the corrupt humans? In case you haven't noticed, we're working for one of the most corrupt humans I've ever seen!" I then commented to him, trying to keep my voice down so that Roman wouldn't hear from inside, but still aggravated by his response.

"Well, sometimes you just have to work with the hand life deals you. I never thought I'd be in Vale, living a double life as a cover. But sometimes we just have to work with what we've got, you know?" He then told me, seeming to think he was being wise.

"What is that supposed to be, wisdom?" I asked, unamused. "Or perhaps you're telling me you _don't_ want to be here."

"Hey, nobody's really where we want to be. I'd _like_ to be laying on a beach in Vacuo, sipping a drink while every so often getting up to talk to the barmaid, but I'm here. You're here too, though not for much longer if you keep up with that kind of talk." He then told me, voice growing a little more stern as I seemed to be trying to get him to admit he wanted out.

"I'm just saying, sometimes the proper response to a bad hand is to fold, then hope for a better one in the next deal. After all, that beach in Vacuo's got to be nicer than whatever your cover is here, bud." I suggested to him.

"Well, I happen to enjoy my work…" He informed me. "…and stop calling me 'bud'. I hate it when you and Prism say that, it's annoying."

"Well, when we don't use names, I have to call you something. I hear you guys in the White Fang call each other 'brother', but since I'm not one of you, can hardly do that. What would like me to call you?" I asked now, curious as to his response.

"If I tell you my name, would you stop talking to me and go on about your business? You're bothering me." He then asked, seeming fed up with the conversation.

"Yeah, I guess. I have to go pre-empt something back at Beacon, so you have yourself a deal." I answered, expecting a made-up name like the ones Chroma came up with for us.

"It's Tukson. Now please go away." He then resigned, sounding like our words were actually draining him.

"Oh? All right then." I agreed, surprised he'd given me something that sounded like an actual name. "Well then, Tukson. Have a good night." I then stated, before leaving the docks, hoping I wouldn't have to come back, but not excluding any possibilities.

* * *

After a very tense time travelling back to Beacon, not to mention having to convince Diamond, Azure and Eunry that my delay in responding to them hadn't been because I was attacked or anything like that, I quickly rushed back to the team's room, only to find Blake standing in the middle of the room, waiting for me.

"Good evening, Jett." The raven-haired girl then stated dispassionately. "Busy night?"

Gulping slightly at what was about to happen, I stepped into the room, closing the door behind me. "I'm surprised you're in here waiting for me. I would have thought you'd go right to Ozpin." I admitted.

"I thought I'd give you a chance to explain yourself. I was hoping you wouldn't be coming back here to run, but since you came back without your team, my guess is that's _exactly_ what you were doing." She then chided me, seeming offended by what she was seeing.

"Are you surprised? What would you do if you were suddenly found out, that within a span of five minutes, life can go from manageable to catastrophe? Because of one slip-up." I stated, unable to think of a cover, my thoughts were just starting to flow out of my mouth.

"You think you're the only one with a difficult life? You don't know the meaning of the word." She then told me. "Come." She essentially commanded, now bringing me with her up onto the roof.

"If your team comes back, I don't want them to hear this. Yet." She told me, her face a strange combination of angry and concerned. "So, back to my question. Why?" She then asked me again.

"My answer is the same. You wouldn't get it. I don't think there's really anyone that might understand it." I admitted to her, the series of circumstances seeming so out-there that I couldn't see anyone following it.

I figure that would be enough. Every time she opened her mouth to speak, I expected the next words to be 'If that's the way you want it', before she went to inform the others. However, her next words were something I didn't expect.

"Try me." She said this dispassionately, making it seem as if time itself would stand still until I actually told her how this happened.

"Well, this came about a few months ago, back when my team and I went into Vale…" I started, now recounting to her the story of how Chroma and I reunited after so long since he left, his misleading me into meeting with Roman, and their reasonable request turning out to be an act of brazen theft, which had pulled me into their midst with the threat of turning me in.

"…and you believed them?" Blake asked incredulously, sounding surprised that I had gone along with all of it. "They couldn't turn you in if Torchwick didn't really know who you were, and actually coming forward would mean getting themselves arrested as well! They played you!" she then responded indignantly. "How could you be that stupid?" she then demanded, though her reaction seemed strangely out-of-whack with the rest of our current discussion.

"I told you, you wouldn't get it! I couldn't leave Chroma with those people! He's still my friend, even if he's being a complete scumbag right now!" I countered her, shaking slightly at this point as my real motivation for staying came out. Not an attempt to pry myself from them, not simply wanting not to be pointed out, but I couldn't just leave my friend in the company of criminals and terrorists without any kind of help. "I did something stupid for someone I care about. I doubt you'd understand that part, sharp as you are." I had a hard time getting the last part out, somewhat shaking right now.

"That's where you're wrong." Blake replied, deadly serious right now. "I know exactly what that feels like! That's the whole reason I'm giving you a chance right now! Because I've been where you are now, and I don't want to see someone else fall when I managed to find my way out!"

"What are you even talking about?" I asked, confused. She didn't seem like the type to have ever made a mistake, if I were being honest. Always calm, cool and in control of the situation, never seeming to think twice about what she was doing, as if guided by some unseen force toward her inevitable goal.

Taking a deep breath, she sighed to herself "I know where you are right now. You think you can help your friend, but you can't. He's too far gone, just like Adam is too far gone."

"Wait, who? I'm still lost here." I commented, shaking my head a bit.

However, she looked as if she'd slipped up. "Forget I said that. All I mean is I know where you are right now. But there is a way out. If there wasn't I wouldn't be here." She then told me, turning toward the main part of the building. "I don't know what it is for you, but you have to find it. If you just wait for that moment to come to you, it won't. You have to be the one to make it happen."

Listening to this, suddenly she started making sense. "I know. I guess I've known for a while, really, but I didn't want to actually face the facts. Chroma's not the friend I trained with anymore. Hell, I don't know who he is now, but I have to put a stop this, and I have to do it soon." I told her, currently feeling my resolve strengthening.

There was just one thing she got wrong.

"Though, you weren't quite right about not being able to wait for my moment. They told me about another job they're doing in a couple weeks, and I'm going to throw the boys a nice surprise party. I just hope there aren't too many of those White Fang guys, I think Roman was losing faith in me to begin with." I informed her.

"Wait, the White Fang? What do you know about them?" she then asked, sounding surprised. Evidently she hadn't been focusing on anything but me at that point, having missed the White Fang on the dock.

"They've been helping that smarmy prick by doing his dirty work." I informed her, starting back into the building. "So, as long as you keep quiet about our little problem, then I'll take care of it in my own way."

"Two weeks." Were the last two words I heard from Blake before I went back into the building.

Now laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling as I thought about what had happened tonight. I had set down my gauntlet-guns, an obvious facsimile of Yang's weapons, on the bedside table, and, unable to be bothered going back to the armory to put my gear back in there, I had simply fused every part of it into bricks of its base material, setting the mask in its own little brick of black steel next to the guns.

Truth be told, I never wanted to wear that crap again.

As the others came back, I could hear their carelessly heavy steps coming from the end of the hall. I fully expected Blake would disregard what we agreed on, and my team would come back and confront me about my identity as 'the Phantom'.

Now, when Diamond started, "What the hell are you doing back here!?" with a tone of something close to hostility, I had this opinion reinforced.

"Where else would I be? This is our room after all." I responded, as if having to explain that the moon was in pieces or that Forever Fall had trees.

"Well, you could have stayed in town with us!" Eunry berated, "You had the rest of us worried!"

"Yeah! There was an absolute shitshow at the docks tonight!" Azure added "We showed up to see the building shot up, a huge hole in the wall and some idiot… you know what, forget that part. Are you okay? We thought you were attacked when you didn't respond before."

This again? I thought I 'cleared this up' on the way back to Beacon.

"It's all right, Azure. I was a bit distracted. I thought I found Torchwick, but I lost him trying to help out Chroma." I told them. This wasn't exactly a lie, at least in the general sense.

"Torchwick? Where? We were looking for the Phantom to find who he was working for!" Diamond responded, the three of them now sitting around the bed I was on.

"Oh, you made your own Ember Celica?" Azure then asked, looking at the pieces on the table.

"Yeah, not important right now, though." I told them.

"What's with the scraps on the floor?" Diamond asked, confused.

"That's just some armour I put together. I got distracted by the excitement tonight, mis-shaped the pieces, so I put them back to the scrap state for now." I told them, laying back. "I'm a bit exhausted right now, so I can't really consider this effectively. Let's talk about it tomorrow."

It was a rather awkward hour or so, listening for the sound of incoming boots down the hallway before exhaustion finally got me to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8 - Fallen Friend

_It's time to get this done._

Standing just short of the warehouses next to the dock that Roman had told me to come to in order to help with a 'bigger' task, in order to help me redeem myself, I steeled myself for the task I was _actually_ going to execute. Stepping forward, I was dressed a little differently from my normal Phantom gear: still fully-armoured, but making no effort to hide who I was, the more curved pieces also now featuring more angular edges.

"Hmm, I think you're out of uniform, 'Phantom'." Chroma's voice now spoke to me, currently standing between me and the docks, several of their White Fang thugs now around me as well in the other alleys that ran between the warehouses.

"Funny, that. I never thought I actually had a 'uniform'." I commented with a slight smirk, though that vanished in a brief moment. "Get out of my way, Chroma. I don't want to do this, but I will if I have to." I stated, staring him down coldly, black spear in hand.

"You know, when you stopped replying, I thought at first that you wantedto _stop_ us today, but if you were dumb enough to come alone, then you were just asking for a beatdown before we leave the Phantom for the police." Chroma commented smugly, unlatching a pair of heavy metal flails at the end of chains attached to his arms. "You ready to fall victim to Typhoon?"

"So, I guess that's how it's going to be. Let's do this then!" I declared, pointing my spear at him before charging.

* * *

" _So, what did you want to see me about, Mr. Stremm?" The familiar, cool voice of Professor Ozpin asked. His tone gave me the impression that he knew everything there was to know, but I couldn't stop myself telling him now, or I wouldn't be able to bring myself to._

 _Standing in his office, it felt as if I was truly in the very heart of Beacon, the intimidating air I felt back then was nothing compared to actually being in here, standing in front of the headmaster to tell him one of his students was a criminal._

" _Well, Professor, I… maybe it's better if I show you." I started, drawing a small black metal brick from my pocket, before shaping it into the 'Phantom' mask everyone had most likely seen on the news._

" _Ah, that." He responded, not seeming surprised at all._

" _W-wait, you knew?!" I stammered in shock._

 _Rising from his chair now, and walking around the large office with his coffee, Ozpin started "You will find that there is little that happens in Vale without me knowing about it, Mr. Stremm. What I am curious about is what brought you here to me? Why speak out about it now?"_

" _I had no other choice, Professor. I was informed about a large-scale crime about to be committed next week, and I couldn't keep quiet about it."_

" _That explains what you want to talk about, but not why you are here. Please try to answer the question I asked next time." Ozpin commented, sounding more like a teacher correcting a student giving the wrong answer than talking to a criminal. "As for your statement, 'No other choice'? Hardly. There were several other possibilities, including trying to leave the kingdom. Yet, you chose to come here and essentially turn yourself in. Why is that?"_

 _Shaking my head a little, I looked back at him and responded "Professor, I didn't want to leave. I couldn't do that to my team. I know I've done a great deal wrong since coming here, but I couldn't just leave it like that, while I know there are things I could do about it."_

" _You are referring to the string of dust thefts that you assisted in carrying out." Ozpin inferred from what I was saying._

" _Yes, sir." I nodded. "…I have stopped answering their messages, and haven't done anything to help them since the last warehouse break-in. That's why the brute-force attacks have started again. As for the why, I wanted to make things right. If I help stop them, and bring my former employer to justice, that would help, I think."_

" _It would be a start, but that would leave the issue of ill-gotten gains that you have acquired from these dealings." Ozpin observed, listening to what I had to say._

" _Fortunately, sir, after I realized the payments were all in stolen dust, I have been stockpiling what they have been giving me. I will be happy to turn it in and get that stolen loot out of my armory." I informed him._

" _You refer to that structure you carved into one of the cliffs on my campus." Ozpin again stated correctly. Did I make_ any _move that avoided his attention? "Quite ingenious, making the entrance in a way that only you could find or access. My compliments."_

" _Thank you, sir. But you don't seem to be taking this issue seriously enough." I observed, confusion obvious in my expression._

" _Quite the opposite, in fact. I have been keeping a close watch on you because I understand the danger of the situation you find yourself in. Most likely better than you do." Ozpin explained to me. "However, I am a firm believer in making right your own mistakes. If you don't, who will?"_

" _I. See." I responded slowly, unsure what to make of his statements._

" _That being said, I have a proposal to make: if you can prevent the crime that you are in the process of preparing to stop, and capture the perpetrators, then I will make arrangements that you will not be held to account for actions taken under duress." Ozpin then offered. "Though, if you wish to do so, I suggest coming clean with your teammates. They are, after all, supposed to be your most trusted allies. If you leave them in the dark, that trust will fall apart should they find out on their own."_

 _Nodding in response to this, I stepped toward the door. "I accept your offer, Professor. I'll put a stop to this, and bring the perpetrators to account."_

* * *

His first mistake: bringing the fight to a closed-in area like this.

As the White Fang guys started to advance on my position in the cross-section of the warehouses, I smiled across at Chroma.

"What are you so damned happy about? You may not have noticed in your childish attempt to clear your name, but you've just walked right into a trap!" He lectured, quite angry right now.

Looking around at the group, I couldn't help but nod a little "Yeah, you're right, I suppose. But then, you'd think you would be smarter in how you would run an ambush." Now, as the group started to surround me in a ring, they would feel the ground under them start to ripple slightly.

"What the-?" one of them started.

"Get him! Get him now!" Chroma shouted, realizing what I was about to do.

Too late.

I'd kept them distracted and slow for just long enough to get the feeling for the ground under me, reshaping the concrete below me enough to produce a shock-wave around me, sending the group of them into the walls of the warehouses, though not with very much force. It wasn't much, but it was enough to leave me alone with Chroma long enough to start with a one-on-one rather than a beatdown.

As soon as the group parted, a large flail with an angry red glow came down through the air, leaving me with only an instant to bound back away from the weapon. "You shouldn't have come here!" Chroma shouted at me, the second flail smashing into the wall behind me, the cause of the red glow was obvious as embers and sparks came off the concrete and steel: something had superheated it!

Charging toward Chroma now, taking a wide swing at him with my spear, meeting air as he'd doubled back, before firing a shot once the weapon came over my shoulder, I shifted out of the way as a steel chain swung past where I'd been just a moment before, a fist wrapped in a section of that steel chain now swinging for me, and meeting the middle of the handle of my spear.

However, it still hit with enough force to send me back into the wall behind me. Taking a moment to recover, I now had to move before the White Fang started on me, jumping back into one of the alleys, I struck forward, hitting the first guy in the head with the gun-end of my spear, striking the second in the knee with the front part of the handle, then tripping both of them up as I brought the spear around in a low sweep.

Again giving me only a moment to move away from the heavy vertical swing that brought the white-glowing flail onto the ground where I had been a moment before. "If we're being honest, _you_ shouldn't have come here, Chroma, and we both know why."

"Shut up! My skills aren't bound by location like yours!" Chroma shouted angrily, the second flail striking again in a heavy overhead swing.

"Incorrect." I replied, detached. "You came from an area with huge, wide-open spaces, like I did." Now side-stepping another swing that resulted in a number of icy spikes sticking out of the ground where it had hit. "You never would have thought there was somewhere where room to swing wouldn't be possible." I commented.

His inability to get a full horizontal circle with his weapons was currently a major hinderance for any serious attempt to fight me, and he knew it.

He was just refusing to admit it.

"But, you know. I don't mind fighting in the big metal box." I commented, bringing my hand to the wall of the warehouse, part of the metal forming a blade, like it had against Blake, but clearly sailing toward him once it had snapped off the wall, striking his silver aura and forcing him to stagger back slightly. "Because I am the big metal box." I surmised calmly.

"Shut up!" he again shouted angrily, another swing coming down, green glow hinting at the gale about to strike, just before it did, pushing me back toward the wall. "I always hated how damned wordy you are! Just shut up and fight if that's what you're here for!"

"Of course I will. Though, if you want a fair fight, this is the wrong place for it." I then told him. Before we finally caught the sounds of clanging metal and weapons' fire from around where the two of us were fighting.

"Speaking of fair fight, I guess your new friends have their hands full."

* * *

" _Jett, what's going on? You've been acting like you've been wanting to tell us something all day." Azure asked, confused. It seemed my anticipation and dread had been showing._

 _Standing by a section of the cliff where my armoury was located, I stepped toward the wall. "I just need to show you guys something." Now reshaping the wall to reveal the entrance to my workshop. "You wanted to know before where my workshop is, well, this is it. Where I keep everything I built, everything I plan to use." I told them, stepping into the small structure before sealing the group of us inside._

" _Jett… I get the feeling this isn't all you wanted to show us." Diamond stated, as the group of them, my team, stepped into my armoury, able to see case upon case of dust stacked up in a storage area, specially carved out for the purpose. I'd moved nothing out before bringing them here._

" _No, it isn't." I told the three of them, before doing the same thing I had done with Ozpin, forming the mask with the small brick in my hand. "I'm also the Phantom."_

 _Strangely, none of them seemed shocked at the new information, just seeming pleasantly surprised as if I'd gotten the three of them a round of drinks. "Well…" Eunry started "…it's about time you told us."_

 _Wait, what?_

" _Did you really think we didn't know where you'd been going every few nights?" Diamond asked me, shaking his head at the whole charade. "Every night you disappear, there just happens to be another break-in reported the next day. It was pretty obvious you were at least involved."_

" _When did you figure it out?" I asked them, ashamed it had come to this._

" _We didn't know for certain you were the Phantom until Blake mentioned she'd fought him that night at the warehouse." Eunry told me, now with a hand on my shoulder. "She didn't tell us, but when we showed up there after her message, we found the wall reshaped with a hole in it, and a blade sticking out of the roof made of the same material as the roof. It was more than a little obvious."_

" _Well, when you say it like that, I suppose it was fairly obvious. That was the first time I had to leave without fixing the wall." I stated, shaking my head a bit. "I figured you guys would be more pissed about this." I then admitted._

" _We were, at first." Eunry admitted to me "Diamond wanted to force a confession out of you at first, but it passed pretty quickly." Diamond's expression seeming to carry that he had still been considering it._

" _What we still don't get is why? Why would you do something like this? Falls pretty far outside what we've seen of you." Azure asked, looking both confused at the question, and almost afraid of the answer._

" _That day we met Chroma, he misled me into meeting Torchwick, then held my helping them once over my head to keep me in it. Also, I… I couldn't help but want to try to get Chroma out of it too." I then answered her, looking over the row of lockers I had placed in a series of what seemed to be metal tubes._

" _But…" I then continued, turning back to them "…I know now I can't help him." I spoke with resignation. "Except by stopping him."_

"… _and how did you plan to do that?" Diamond asked, seeming somewhat tense at the moment._

" _That's why I asked you guys to come with me." I started. "After I've been such a piss-poor leader of this team, I have no right to ask you, but I'm still asking you anyway. Will you help me put a stop to them?"_

" _Jett…" Azure started, stepping toward me._

" _I'll help. But there's a price tag." Diamond told me, face deadly serious. "Promise me that you'll_ never _keep us in the dark like this again. Promise me that, and I'll help."_

 _At this, I nodded along "Yeah, I can do that. You guys have done far more to earn my trust than anyone I've ever met, including Chroma."_

" _Jett, I've got a requirement as well." Azure got out, now looking across at me with the most serious look SHE could muster. "You're buying us all dinner after."_

 _Feeling my face crack into a smile for the first time in a week, I nodded across "Sounds fair. You guys help me stop a criminal band, and I buy you all dinner. Sure."_

" _So…" Eunry started "…what's the plan?"_

* * *

"Oh, so that's your plan? A four-on-one!?" Chroma demanded, taking another wild swing at me, before a concrete spike prodded into his aura at his leg.

"Not at all." I responded to him. "You misunderstand. They're not going to stop you. That's my job. They're just stopping anyone besides you from interfering."

"Really!? So, just because you've been at that school for a while, you think you're hot shit now!? That you don't need help to stop me!?" Chroma demanded, his hair currently a deep red as he took another ill-fated wild swing at me. "Just like you were at home, a smug little prick, just because Stahl liked you more!"

"Oh, so _that's_ what this is about. You're still throwing a tantrum because you thought he liked me more? That's messed-up, bud. Is that why you left?" I told him, reversing my spear and taking a shot at him, which his aura was forced to take in the narrow quarters of the alleyway.

"No!" he spat back at me. "I left because Stahl's black-and-white worldview made me sick! Life isn't all good guys and bad guys, Jett!" He then jumped up, spinning himself in midair to make his weapon spin on a vertical axis, finally figuring out how to make proper use of his weapon in the alleyway.

The oncoming spinning wheel of steel and ice forced me to fall back until he stopped spinning, landing back in the alleyway. "Life isn't always as warm and pleasant as he told you it would be! You try to help people, and it bites you in the ass!" he spat bitterly. "I should know!"

"I don't know where all this fury came from, Chroma, and if you'd come to me for help when we met up again, I'd have helped you through it, but it's _far_ too late for that now!" I declared, now activating my gauntlets and bounding up from wall to wall of the warehouse, wind dust propelling me up the wall until I landed on the roof, spear's gun-end trained on the side of the roof, waiting for him to come up after me.

It didn't take long for a flail to appear on the roof, the sound of jangling metal and footfalls telling me he was running up the wall on the chain, jumping up onto the roof and dropping the second flail in front of him. "You sure you want to do this up here?" he asked with a smirk now on his face. Chroma knew my advantage up here was gone.

"I'll take my chances." I commented, tapping something into my scroll with one hand, before putting it away. "Now, shall we?"

Grinning across at me, Chroma declared "Guess it's time for me to show you how cruel the world can be!" before swinging his flail toward me, then the second, not even stopping after I jumped back from the swings.

However, he didn't stop either swing, simply bringing himself around, spinning the flails in a circle, wind starting to churn around the flails as the two weapons glowed a dim green, until, a moment later, a wall of wind advanced on me.

Falling back from the advancing storm, I tried to keep my distance, but the churning mass now moved towards me more quickly, Chroma using the wind generated to accelerate himself. Taking a shot at the advancing wall, I watching it deflect harmlessly before exploding on another part of the roof.

Now, as the storm reached critical mass while it grew closer to me, the entire wall of wind suddenly caught fire, a twisting storm of fire nearly upon me before I moved into the fire, needing a combination of both luck and timing to be able to deflect one of the two flails, which would be enough to throw off his balance and stop this burning typhoon.

I needed only to parry one of the weapons.

Unfortunately, that was far easier said than done. When I attempted to use the handle of my spear to turn aside one of the oncoming flails, difficult to perceive behind the wall of flame, I felt my aura get singed by the flames just before the weapon slammed into my spear. Instead of deflecting his attack and giving me an opening, it resulted in me getting flung across the gap and over to the next warehouse roof, my spear spinning in the air a moment before landing on the other side of the roof behind me, stabbed into the metal plating of the roof.

"Yeah. Gotta remember the timing." I muttered to myself, unused to fighting Chroma after all this time. I used to have this timing down to an art form, but I must be getting rusty at it.

"Ha! You see, Jett? You can't beat me!" Chroma commented with a laugh, stopping his spin as he now moved over to the edge, clearly intending to follow me. "You never could, even when you did parry my strikes properly!"

To be fair, he _was_ right.

* * *

" _Come on, Jett! You've gotta take advantage of your opening when you get it!" Chroma told me, punching me in the arm lightly while I was still recovering from our latest sparring match. Even after Stahl told him to be more careful in training due to the collateral damage of his fighting style, I was still having trouble keeping up with him._

 _The two of us were sitting on a small rocky ledge only a couple feet high, in the middle of a clearing surrounded by forest. We often joked that this clearing existed because Chroma had fought some forest grimm that kept trying to hide from him._

" _Yeah, I know. I just… don't want to hurt you, Chroma." I admitted to him. "Every time I get a shot opening on you, I find it hard to pull the trigger."_

" _Oh? You're too soft, Jett. What would happen if you had to fight me in a tournament setting? Would you just let me win?" Chroma then asked, looking rather concerned._

" _What? Tournament? I don't imagine I'd get a chance to fight in one of those. I'll be staying around the town to keep it safe, remember? You're the one with the bigger dreams, bud." I told him, both glad for his dream, and a little sad I didn't have a grander one._

" _Yeah, but eventually you'll have something. Some bigger idea that you'll want to fulfill. I don't see you wasting your talents in such a small area. But that's beside the point. What would you do if you had to seriously fight me?" Chroma then asked me, trying to force the issue._

" _Well, I'd hope that wouldn't have to happen, but I think I'd try my best to fight in a way I wouldn't have to really fight your attacks." I stated, unsure what method that would be, but knowing for a fact a head-on fight against his powerful weapons would end badly for me._

 _However, our conversation was cut short by the arrival of a small group of Boarbatusks._

" _Well, looks like its back to fighting for real, eh?" Chroma asked me with a reassuring smile, getting back into a standing position and readying his flails._

 _Yeah…_

* * *

Now, as Chroma jumped across to the roof I was on, any trace of the friend I had known then was gone, a look of near-lunacy on his face distorting his features, just before he resumed his spin, coming after me as he once again became a storm of advancing wind.

Bounding back, I stretched my semblance across the metal of the roof, forming several steel spikes impeding his path. These were easily hacked down by the advancing storm, but delayed its forward momentum long enough for me to separate a piece of the roof off, forming a crude short-sword, the piece more limited in size than I thought.

Raising several more spikes in his path, I moved to try again to parry the storm's weapon, only for the blade to bend back like a cheap spoon from the impact before I was sent flying back.

Okay, this metal sucks.

Taking a moment to observe the situation with the time I had, I smiled a little to myself.

 _I_ do _have to fight him without fighting his attacks… and he gave me the perfect place to do just that._

As a wall, now emitting violent arcs of lightning on its approach, continued to move toward me, I reached out again with my semblance.

 _He should be convinced I'm just trying to stall by now._

Right into the middle of the advancing storm, raising a spike where I assumed his position was.

I was confirmed right when the storm stopped, one of his hands nearly having been impaled on a metal spike before his aura took the hit. "Really? That's how you want to fight, you punk!?" Chroma demanded, before charging me again.

This would work. He only knows one way to fight.

 _He never needed another one before._

Starting to spin again, I noticed the metal under his storm starting to buckle as the force of the wind around it continued to increase.

 _It wouldn't be long now._

Reaching down to the roof again, I came back up with another blade made of the flimsy metal.

 _Hopefully this one works better._

Advancing to meet the oncoming storm, I again raised as spike near its center, this time, the storm slowed visibly as one of the chains had to push past a spike while it swing, parting the wind enough to allow me an entrance. Rushing through the gap, I saw a visibly perturbed Chroma stop his spin, raising one flail in a vertical strike, before I moved out of the way, pushing the thin blade into the gap of the chains while the two were close together, before the activating weapons on my hands brought a lightning-infused punch to Chroma's unguarded middle.

However, this again triggered Chroma's semblance, a sudden blast of wind sending me back while a heavy swing to either of his sides broke the flimsy sword I had jammed the chains with. "What? You forget how my semblance works after all this time?" he asked me, his words dripping with aggravation.

However, both our eyes were drawn for only a moment to the source of an increasing screeching coming from the sky, seconds before a locker slammed into the roof of the first warehouse. "What the hell is that?" Chroma asked, now confused to the point where his immediate fury seemed to subside for only a moment.

"Don't mind that. Side project." I commented, jumping back to where I was safely out of reach of his chain before getting ready to fight again. "Also, I know perfectly well how your semblance works, _Prism."_ I commented. "It's just necessary at this point." Finally getting to the point of the roof where I could pull my spear out of the metal, giving it a flourishing spin before bringing it up to its combat position.

However, the gap in our combat allowed us to take notice of the sounds of combat coming from the docks.

That didn't seem right: I sent my team to ambush the White Fang I knew Chroma would bring along to stop me. Who was there? The brief flickers of a shadow moving back and forth against their opponent gave me a clear hint.

So Blake _did_ look into the White Fang.

* * *

 _Not long after telling my teammates about what was going on, I had been making my way back from my workshop alone, needing to think things through, before I noticed Blake, by herself in the main courtyard._

 _She was taking off that bow she always wore. I didn't think much of that, since I'd always found it a somewhat odd fashion choice, but what happened after that surprised me._

 _Cat ears?_

 _Blake is a faunus?_

 _Maybe that's part of why she got jumpy when I brought up the White Fang._

 _Could she be-?_

 _No, I doubt it's anything as convoluted as that._

 _But, if that's the case, maybe she'll look into it, and we'll both end up in the same place. I need all the help I can get right now._

* * *

Not seeming to give the situation at the docks any attention, Chroma commented dryly, "Not that it matters. You're still getting crushed." Before starting to spin his weapons about again. However, this time, I had only to move the gun-end of my spear down to a connection point of the roof, and fire.

The roof section we had been fighting on so weakened by both Chroma's rampage and my pulling metal off of it for weapons and spikes, that one explosive shot was all it took for the structure under Chroma to collapse, sending him falling into the warehouse below, with me already in hot pursuit as he went down.

As soon as I hit the ground a single shot rang out and exploded, which separated Chroma from the chains leading to his weapons, a silver shimmer sweeping across his form which made clear that his aura had been completely depleted. "Heh, looks like you got me this time, you self-righteous ass." He commented with resignation.

"We're stopping this, Chroma. Today." I told him, annoyed that he was still taking a hostile tone, even beaten like this.

Hearing the sounds of explosions continuing outside, Chroma laughed slightly "Afraid not, bud. You're not stopping anything. Even if you do block this one little heist, do you really think you're gonna stop what's going on? Looks like you chose the wrong side, my old friend." He finished cryptically.

"What? What are you talking about? What's going on? What the hell do you mean by 'sides'!? You're part of a ring of thieves!" I retorted in confusion, before training my weapon on him again. "…and you're going down for it." I told him.

"Really? You really think you're gonna take me in? Then what, huh? You think they're just going to pat you on the back and tell you all is forgiven? You were the one _doing_ the break-ins! We just followed you along! At least, that's what the cops are going to hear. Besides, we both know that's an empty threat." He commented, pointing to my spear. "You won't hurt me. Even now, you can't bring yourself to do it even after I tried to kill you."

Beginning to laugh, Chroma then commented "Don't worry, buddy, I'll try to put a good word in for you, and maybe they'll just kill you quickly later on!"

"Who?" I asked, confused, not really reacting to his threats at this point.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? The boss has a boss higher up than him. Though that's all you're going to hear about it. Have fun dying." Chroma declared.

At this point, however, I'd heard far more than enough, and took a swing at Chroma with the blunt end of my weapon.

However, my careful swing caused me to lose speed, before Chroma ducked the weapon, delivering a swift punch to my stomach and picking up and throwing one of his flails, the metal lodging itself in the roof just before he clambered up the chain, getting back to the roof just as loud whooshing started to be heard overhead.

Rushing back up to the roof with a semblance-assisted jump up, I saw him boarding a bullhead, just as two others were moving toward the docks, and two others toward the far side of the warehouses. "Now, the way I see it…" Chroma started to yell over the whoosh of the engines "…you've got two choices. Stop me, or go help your friends before my friends end them! Your pick!" before he gave a laugh, the bullhead starting to take off.

There wasn't even the beginning of a choice.

Rushing over to the first warehouse, where the weapon I'd intended to use against any errant air support ended up, I got to the locker, as the two bullheads started to open fire on the other side of the buildings.

"I've got this." I muttered to myself, as a button push on the side of the locker caused the plating to begin shifting, the noise of sliding plates and whirring gears continuing as the locker gave way to a four-barrelled cannon turret.

Taking the controls, I opened up on the first bullhead, quickly neutralizing one of the engines before the spinning craft crashed back down into the docks area, the second craft turning to attack, just as the sight of large fragments of another bullhead made themselves visible to me, barely dodging the turbine that flew into my gun.

"Oh, joy." I muttered to myself, as the second bullhead began to open fire on my position, just before a bright green beam sheared the craft's rear section clean off, causing the bullhead to crash into the warehouse that Chroma and I had fought on/in.

What the-?

Turning my head toward the source of the beam, I caught sight of what appeared to be: a girl?

Was that some kind of crazy semblance? Or perhaps the stress from tonight is just driving menuts…

Seeing a man in the distance starting to get onto a last bullhead, I recognized him even from this distance at night: Roman!

 _No way I'm letting him get away!_

Now having the time to actually aim my weapon, I lined up the bullhead, starting to open fire, explosive rounds stopping just short of the craft, as their weak range started to show its issues, before the bullhead took off.

Well, I might be in trouble. After all this: no Roman, no Chroma, and a trashed docks area.

 _Although, there may be a way to make this a win after all._

* * *

Making my way out past the warehouse, where Azure, Diamond and Eunry were now standing, looking as if they were waiting for the police to show up. I brought along the crew of the bullhead that I just dragged out of their wreck. "Nice night for a walk, isn't it?" I asked the three, before lining up the crew on the wall.

"So it is." Diamond commented, shaking his head a little before asking, "You get him?"

"Yeah." I replied "But I didn't manage to keep him. I slipped up once I had him cornered." Heaving a sigh before Azure's face appeared in front of mine.

"Hey, don't be so glum, boss! We got 'em! We caught lots of these White Fang guys, and stopped them from stealing a shipload of dust! Though that green beam that sliced up the aircraft seemed to work better than your locker-gun." She then commented, pointing over to where we had seen the blast come from.

"Yeah, but that one still worked pretty well. I'll mark it as a good design, but someone clearly has a better one." I commented, unable to suppress my smile once Azure started on me about something.

Moving over to the three of them, I smiled across at them "I owe all three of you big-time now. Thank you all so much for helping me!" I then embraced the three of them a moment.

Once we parted Diamond commented "All right, let's not get mushy. But yeah, that's the kind of thing teams do for each other. They help each other."

"Exactly." Eunry nodded affirmatively. "While you're on our team, we're here for you."

"All right. If you guys ever need anything, then I'll still be here. At least, provided Ozpin believes this whole thing…" I commented.

"Though, there's still one thing bothering me, Jett." Eunry started, looking curious. "You never told us what Chroma's semblance was, that you didn't want us to engage him with you. Or was that not the reason?"

"Actually, no, it wasn't. Chroma's fighting style, well, it doesn't matter how many people you have in a small area, he's literally pure offence in combat." I told them why I had them break off their ambush rather than help me fight Chroma.

"Yeah, we saw bits of those cyclones." Diamond stated with a nod.

"Add that to the fact that his semblance lets him use any and all elements in combat, and he's not someone you want to swarm in on." I continued with a nod. "He can convert elemental energy received into another elemental type." I then explained, since they looked confused. "That's how his weapon's typhoon was on fire and emitting lightning at points. His weapon was designed to create that storm while it spun around, he just changes what the storm is composed of."

"Oh." Azure started. "That's nasty. Is that why your mentor didn't like him?" she then asked, seemingly out of the blue. "Yeah, we could hear his yelling even from where we were."

Feeling the heat rise in my cheeks at the idea of such personal information having been broadcast to my team, I told them "No. Stahl didn't like that he fought like that because of the collateral damage, but that was manageable. Chroma left because… well, apparently they had a disagreement, but Stahl didn't force him to leave. I heard something about a job offer he got elsewhere, maybe even then he signed on with Torchwick, but I'll never know now, I guess."

"Oh." the three seemed to reply as one.

"Can we get back to this later? This isn't exactly the right place to talk about it." I commented, before walking off "I have one more thing to do." I then stated, stepping over to where Blake and the guy that met her at Beacon were currently, along with Ruby.

"Evening, guy and girls. You having a nice night so far?" I asked nonchalantly, Blake looking on-edge a moment before nodding slightly, seeming to realize what my presence after what happened meant.

"Pretty nice. Two weeks, you said… and here we are." Blake responded with a slight nod.

"That I did." I replied, only the two of us getting that.

"Wait, what? What is this about, and who are you, dude?" the guy asked, clearly confused.

"Sun, this is Jett. Jett, this is Sun." Blake then introduced the two of us.

"Certainly was an interesting turn of events, eh, Sun?" I then asked, slightly amused at this point as the tension started to lessen.

"Interesting. Not the word I would use, but I guess so." Sun replied, rubbing the back of his head a bit.

"What are you doing here, Jett?" Ruby then asked curiously, not seeming suspicious at all. Did Blake not tell her team about it?

"Oh, you know, I thought it was such a nice night, thought I'd come out to these cargo docks and think about things. Though, got a bit more than I thought I would. Good night." I joked calmly, trying not to think about the possibilities of what could have happened here tonight.

Now, however, as team RWBY started to get together, I went back to my own team. "All right, guys, I think it's time we went home."

However, Azure's smirk told me it wouldn't be that simple. "Hang on, Jett. You remember what I said before we came here, right? You're not getting out of buying us dinner that easily!"

Damn it.

"Yeah, I remember." I responded, shaking my head a bit before turning toward Vale. "You guys definitely earned that. Let me know if you spot a place of interest."

Spotting a store marked 'Tukson's Book Trade', I made a mental note of where it was before our group found a noodle stand that was still open, Diamond insisting we have our meal there.

It was a simple thing, but for some reason, just a moment of the four us sitting there, enjoying a noodle bowl together, seemed to resonate with me, etching that memory into my mind as we made our way back to Beacon.

* * *

Knowing there was but one detail to clear up, I left the team's room, making my way to the Headmaster's Office, where I found Ozpin, looking as if he was waiting for me. "Ah, greetings, Mister Stremm. I trust your endeavours tonight at the docks met with success?"

"Afraid not." I told him honestly, standing at attention in the middle of the room. "I was unable to capture either Chroma or Torchwick, sir."

Ozpin looked across at me with a bemused look, before stating "I did not ask if you were successful in apprehending the criminals, I asked if the action overall met with success."

"Well, if you make the question more general, sir, then I suppose we were successful in warding off the attempt to steal a shipload of dust." I offered, unsure of what he wanted to hear at the moment.

"Yes, that is what I was asking you about. You are going to find, Mister Stremm, that as you go through life, nothing goes as planned. There will always be something that will not go quite your way: some adversity to get past, or some ill fate that prevents you from achieving an entirety of success. I have lived long enough to see every kind of plan, and every kind of plan backfire. You should appreciate the fact that tonight, you met with a better result than many others will achieve as they attempt to follow through on their goals." Ozpin lectured to me, not moving from his desk, but sipping at his coffee once he finished.

"I will. Thank you, sir." I replied formally, trying to maintain politeness to the man who could have me expelled or even arrested at the drop of a hat.

"Since you still seem ready to make your escape at any moment, I will tell you: no charges are to be pressed against you. I have seen enough to know that you are not a criminal, but were pushed into such actions under duress. Such is the danger of an enemy that appears a friend." Ozpin informed me, feeling as if he had just removed a huge weight from my shoulders.

"Thank you, Professor. I will definitely remember that." I told him with a nod.

Definitely won't be forgetting THAT.

Another sip of coffee before he said "Good. I hope you will take this lesson to heart. It is not to discourage friendship, but merely to serve as a reminder, that personal connections are a double-edged sword. It is one of the most powerful forces I know of for good, but when abused, is a very destructive power."

"I know that." I replied to him. "I had him, but I hesitated at the end. I was too weak to stop him." I then stated mournfully.

However, at this point, Ozpin stood up, stern expression on his face. I assumed it would be to admonish me for letting him go, but then he spoke "Do not think like that. You had a moment of weakness owing to your connection. However, that only reinforces that you are, indeed, good at heart, Jett." As he continued, I noticed that was the first time he used my first name in speaking to me. "No matter what happens, you cannot allow it to harden your heart. Some might say doing so is necessary to fight back the darkness. But you cannot fight dark with dark, you can only truly fight dark with light, evil with good. If there is ever one thing you are going to remember, make it that."

At this point, Ozpin sat down again "Now, you may go, I am certain you are exhausted after what happened tonight."

"Thank you, Professor." I stated, uncertain why he had been so set off by my earlier statement, but not going to inquire further.

Leaving his office now, I made my way back to the room, where the rest of the team was already asleep, myself falling asleep soon after as my limbs finally yielded to exhaustion.

* * *

The next night, after a quick trip to and from Vale, I returned to my workshop, pushing in a crate I'd rigged to a couple of the weapon lockers to return to beacon, and with a pair of large metal bricks that had until recently been Typhoon.

Setting up an area for the crate, I opened it now, looking over the relatively-intact turbine from one of the destroyed bullheads. "I'm gonna need a bigger garage…" I commented to myself, before starting to write down every visual detail of the aircraft my memory could muster.

* * *

Early the next day, I found myself yet again back in Vale, looking around the town as I wondered if it would be this easy to find the place I was actually looking for.

After an hour or two of wandering, trying to find the exact setting I recalled, I once again found the place clearly marked 'Tukson's Book Trade', stepping into the building, seeing the man working at the counter matching exactly the build of the faunus I spoke to at the warehouse before.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." The man then stated, repeating the store's motto blandly, not seeming to recognize me yet. His voice, however, only confirmed who it actually was.

"So…" I started, wearing a knowing smile "…you ever wonder why we're here?"


End file.
